Konoha Central High: Fall Semester
by Esperwen
Summary: AU, OC - In a world where jutsu are superpowers, three teens transfer to Konoha City, a metropolis where crime runs rampant. They choose to help their new home by using their own powers between classes, but soon find out that there's competition.
1. Welcome to Konoha Central High

DISCLAIMER: I, Esperwen, am naught but a poor student who does not own Naruto, or any characters, pairings, or awesomeness affiliated. This disclaimer covers all of this fic!

* * *

_Esperwen_: Heeeey! Thanks for clicking on "Konoha Central High: Fall Semester"! This is the first of a trilogy...or at least that's what I have planned. Please bear with me; I'm playing around with my writing style between heavy loads of homework, so this isn't easy for me. I shall try to post weekly, but I make no promises. Posting twice a month would be an accomplishment for me, actually...

And don't worry about how the intro is written out...the whole fic isn't like that.

Also, just a heads up: this fic contains OC. According to reviews, they are good OC. So...don't be put off by the OC!

...anyway, carry on!

* * *

-_Intro~_-

Radio static.

Mocking laughter. Cut-off screaming.

Radio static.

Wind's shriek. Creaking wood.

Radio static.

Surprised gasp. Growl of rage.

Radio static.

Hushed silence.

Radio static.

Police sirens.

Radio static.

Sidewalk, running.

Radio static.

Metal screech. Door slamming. Soft panting.

The team is gathering.

"Radios off." Male voice.

Electronic beeps. Breathing easier.

Brown-eyed count. "Five. All present."

"Robbers caught." Blue-eyed smirk.

"Nobody hurt." Black-eyed smile.

Soft laughter. Cool relief. Distant sirens.

"Mission, success." Male yawn.

"_Final _mission." Green-eyed reminder.

Unwanted memory. Heavy silence. Wordless ache...

"E-mail. Letters." Misty black.

"Phone calls." Brown and blue chorus. Crooked smiles.

"New friends." Green pessimist.

"Old comrades." Male insists.

"Forgotten fast." Green grumble.

"Not possible." Blue disagrees.

"Grew together." Brown-eyed voice.

"Laughed together." Black murmur.

"Always together." Blue vow.

Wanted promise. Wordless silence. Heavy ache...

Green whisper. "...Good times."

Sighs. Sniffles.

Final command. "Team disbanded."

Last look. "...Goodbye, friends..."

~*~

-_Chapter 1~ Welcome to KC High_-

_(Michiko)_

_(first day of school, Konoha City)  
_

"Michiko...Michiko..."

_Oh, no..._

The voice was hazy, and sounded far away, but I still managed to make out my name. I wish I hadn't; then I'd have the excuse to tune the voice out.

"Michiko...we're nearly there," a woman's voice coaxed.

I felt a hand gently shake my shoulder. But I didn't _want _my shoulder shaken. I know it was rude, and I regret it now, but I shoved the hand away. Even groaned a little. I was so tired...that's no excuse for rudeness, I know, but I was _really tired._

"Still jet-lagged? C'mon, kid, you slept a good 12 hours last night."

"Woke up twice," I croaked, my eyes still closed. Ugh, first I was whining, and now I was making frog noises. I hate mornings; I always act like such a troll.

"You still had 6 more hours than me, regardless," the woman pointed out, "Not to mention that since _I'm _the one paying for your hotel room, thanks to you coming a day earlier than you were supposed to, _I _should be the one complaining."

I yawned openly, stretching for a moment, and then sat up properly in her beat-up old car's front seat. I gave the woman my most charming smile.

"What're you talking about, Kushina? Children's Aid is paying for the room, not you."

My new social worker chuckled at that, just like I hoped she would. I was glad; I was starting to feel guilty about growling at her a moment before, and was relieved that she let it go. Kushina's a really sweet lady, honestly.

"Good point," the not quite middle-aged woman allowed, her eyes fixed on the road ahead while she continued to drive, "Smart-ass. Just like my son."

I rolled my eyes, and then sat facing forward in the car, again. We were on our way to my new school, which I would be attending for who knows how long.

"Do you have your transcript from last semester?" Kushina asked me, going back to business.

"Right here," I nodded, unzipping the worn, old backpack on my lap and touching a paper I kept safe in a thin folder. That sheet all the courses and grades from my freshman high school year printed on it. And it looked different than most kids' transcripts. My name, 'Michiko,' had no family name following it, and my courses had either D's or A's for grades. I never got Bs or Cs like a normal person. Behold, the freaky transcript that doesn't belong! ...story of my life...

"Your photo I.D.?" Kushina had to make sure all my information was in order; I hadn't been in this city very long, and we had to register me into my classes today; it was the first day of the school year.

"Yup. Oto City's student bus pass counts, right?" I'd needed to bus to my old school, and this little plastic card with my face on it got me a 50cent discount every time I paid bus fare. That doesn't sound like much, but it does make a difference if you're as poor as me.

"Yes, it counts. What about your lunch?" Kushina pulled into a parking lot as she spoke. We'd arrived at the school, I realized. I tried to keep my nerves in check.

"You gave me $5, remember?" I smiled, flashing a bill at Kushina before shoving it back into my pocket. One of the first things I learned in Oto City was to never wave money around for people to see. We weren't in Oto City anymore, but better safe than sorry.

"Right, right. Which means you owe me $5 now," she grinned, parking his car and taking her key out of the ignition.

"Don't worry. If I stay here long enough to hold a job, $5 from my first pay check is all yours."

This time, she didn't laugh. I chuckled a couple times, though. I had to; I was really, really nervous. I mean, I had just reminded myself of an inconvenient truth: I never stayed in a foster home for very long.

Yes, I said 'foster home'. I, Michiko, have been without parents for as long as I can remember. Having no known relatives, when my parents died I was given to the Children's Aid Society of the Fire Country. And I've bounced between foster homes ever since then.

It's not that I'm a problem child, or anything. I mean, my grades are so weird because I'm only good at certain subjects, and the ones I don't understand I do really badly in (hence, the Ds and As on my transcript). And if anything, I try to break up school fights. I try hard to be good. Seriously. It's just that...the places I've been haven't been so great. In fact, the foster homes I've been in have always pretty easy to leave, if I'm being completely honest. Well, except for this last time...

I'd thought I was doing a good job pretending to look up at what would be my new school, but I guess I didn't hide my sniffle that well, because suddenly Kushina had a hand on my shoulder, and an apologetic look on her face. I wish I hadn't made her feel guilty, but I had.

"Michiko, Zaku honestly tried his best-" Kushina started, referring to my old social worker.

"I know!" I exclaimed, blinking hard against hot tears, but stopped myself from throwing a tantrum at the last moment.

Instead, I forced myself to calm down. Oh, I wanted to yell. Trust me, it was hard not to. I mean, for almost 16 years, my foster homes had all been in Oto City, a huge metropolis in the State of Hebi. But for some reason, Children's Aid decided to relocate me to the other side of the country (a two-hour plane ride!). I was assigned to a family in Konoha City, in the State of Katon. Now I was in another giant city, which looked just as unfriendly as the old one. And trust me, if you weren't rich or had a family name, Oto wasn't friendly.

New family, new social worker, new city...and now, my biggest problem: I had to find new friends. But how could I?! Do you expect me to forget my old friends?! They were my fam...no. I had to get a grip. After all, one of my friends promised to follow me to Konoha City as soon as she could.

"...I know," I sighed, trying to smile at Kushina, "I'll get over myself...I just need more time."

'Time', I said. Right. If experience has taught me anything, nobody in the neighbourhood will like me, and the family I'm moving in with will hurt me. It was always like that. Always, except for the last time, and honestly, friends like that can only happen onc...No. Get a grip.

Kushina nodded at what I said, and I could help but silently thank her when she changed the subject. If she hadn't distracted me and made me think of something else, I know I would've collapsed on the ground and given up, right where I was. Dramatic and pathetic, I know, but sadly, that's how much I had wanted to stay in Oto with my friends. I always was a dramatic kid. Heck, I usually got As in Drama class.

"Well, here we are, Michiko," Kushina said, motioning an arm to the great, ancient-looking high school we were walking into, "Welcome to Konoha Central High."

~*~

_(Kiba)_

_(first day of school, lunchtime, Konoha City)  
_

I know this sounds cliché, but the first morning of the school year sucked so badly! English sucked, and History sucked harder! As a rule, I, Kiba Inuzuka, hate school, but that morning was definitely the worst ever. Hands down.

When lunch came around, I yanked the lock off of my locker and threw the door open so fast that it bounced off the locker beside it and slammed shut again. Dammit! It was making fun of me! I glared at it, and then yanked it open the same way, kicking it when it bounced so that it stayed open this time. That'll teach it...

"Damn locker..." I growled through bared teeth, "Where _is _she?!"

"Whoa, Kiba! Relax!"

My friend, Kankurou, punched my shoulder cheerfully before opening the first locker to the left of me. Kankurou's a year older than me, but we hang out a lot anyway; he was one of the few guys in this school that'd let me goof off when I wanted. But I didn't wanna goof off, right then. The blonde idiot was always so damn happy…

"Lay off, man, today sucks ass," I snapped, putting my books away and looking for my wallet; I had to buy my lunch. Cafeteria food was crap, but I'd slept in that morning and had ended up late for first period, even without stopping to pack something. That day _sucked._

"Why, you got detention for being late, already?" Kankurou guessed, raising an eyebrow and still smirking.

"Nah," I shook my head; good thing I'd had Mr. Hatake for English; he always comes to class at least a half hour late, so he never knew I'd walked in a good 15 minutes after class was supposed to start, "You forgot? Today, that girl my family's taking care of is coming to Konoha, remember?"

Kankurou frowned a little, thinking, then his face lit up and he snapped his fingers before pointing at me, "Your foster sister."

"Exactly." I still can't figure out how he forgot for a second.

"And, what, they cancelled on you? She isn't coming?"

"_That's_ not it," I grumbled, finding my wallet in my backpack and shoving it into my back pocket before closing my locker, "I'm supposed to meet her here, at school. But I didn't have any classes with her this morning!"

"Dude, relax!" Kankurou laughed a little as he spoke, and he led me off to the caf, "Everyone in the school has lunch right now. If she's here-"

"She has to be," I snapped, running a hand through my messy hair irritably. I didn't even wanna think about the chance that she wasn't at school, that day.

"...then she'll be in the caf," Kankurou finished, as if I hadn't interrupted. He's a good guy like that, letting little things go.

As Kankurou said that, we entered the caf together. The hallway had been pretty silent, and I had to rub my ears a few times before I got used to the chaos in the lunchroom. But I didn't really care, just then. Ears are one thing; a foster sister is another.

While Kankurou scanned the room for our friends, I pulled a photo out of my hoodie pocket and stared at it again. A couple weeks ago, Children's Aid had sent us (my family, I mean) a picture of the girl we were taking care of for a while. All three of us (my mom, my older sister and I) had a copy of that photo, and I dunno about Hana, but my mom and I carry our copies with us everywhere.

Sounds like we're creepers? We're not. But you gotta understand: my mom always wanted to have a big family. But when my dad died, my mom didn't wanna replace him with some other guy, so she figured she'd adopt some kids. So now, she really wants kids with no family of their own to join ours.

My photo was already kinda worn out from carrying it around everywhere; good thing it was just a copy. I already had the girl's face memorized, but I liked looking at her pic anyway. About my age, she was sitting on a park picnic table, with her feet on the bench. She was around normal height, had tan skin, and dark brown, straight hair that turned up at the ends. The girl had almond-shaped, black eyes, fragile-looking cheekbones, a flat-ish nose, and a light pink mouth. I guessed she didn't pose for pictures a lot, because her smile looked kinda forced, but when I first showed the guys her picture, they all agreed that she was really cute. ...Well, if they hadn't agreed, I'd have shoved their teeth down their throats, but still. She was cute.

"Ah," Kankurou said suddenly, just as I shoved the picture back into my hoodie's pocket, "I see my brother and Shino. Over there."

I saw the table Kankurou was pointing at; it was the table we usually sat at, in the far corner by a graffitied wall and the caf's scummy windows. We started walking towards it, weaving between tables where the usual cliques tended to gather at. I decided was gonna lend the pic to the guys so they could look for the girl while I bought lunch.

My best friend, Shino, saw us coming, and he nudged Kankurou's little brother, Gaara, with an elbow. Gaara looked up and saw us headed towards us; he nodded once like always and went back to staring into the crowd. That was Shino and Gaara's thing; they sat facing the rest of the school and stared at people, watching them and freakin' them out. Though, in Gaara's case, he leaned back in his seat and had his arms crossed and his green eyes just sorta pierced through people. With Shino, he sat up straight like he was in the army or something, had his hands folded on the table and he hid his face with his coat's collar, hood and his sunglasses, simply giving people the _feeling _they were being watched. One guy watched you openly, while the other just gave off an aura. And you thought me and my family were creepy...

Then Shino jerked his thumb to a table across the room, and when I turned to see what it was, I froze.

"...Go on," Kankurou urged, when he saw what I was staring at, "I'll buy your lunch for you."

My friends and I may look like creeps, with our frowning and our big sweaters, but seriously, we're all nice guys. Sometimes even Gaara.

"You owe me," Kankurou called, when I sped away, but I didn't care. Lunch money didn't seem so important anymore.

Because on the other side of the caf, there was the girl! The girl I'd been looking for was sitting at a table! A lunch table! In Konoha Central High's disgusting caf! I guess I showed the guys her pic a lot, because Shino ended up finding her for me.

I must have looked dorky, how I ran across the caf. Normally, I don't run outside of Gym, but I was excited and forgot to look cool; good thing I didn't lose my head and just T over. You've probably figured out by now that my mom wasn't the only one who wanted a big family. I did, too.

It's been eight years since my mom opened up our home to foster kids. But I guess Children's Aid didn't like our 'single-parent with two kids' home, or our shitty neighbourhood, because kids never stayed more than a day. Our house was only being used as a halfway point or pit stop for kids travelling to a new home from far away, but not far enough for a plane ride. So when we heard about this girl, and how she might stay for a long, long time...if you haven't realized it yet, we were _really _excited about this girl!

As soon as I reached her table, though, I stopped. She was sitting alone, staring at her tray and trying to be invisible. You could tell she was shy. I hoped that all I had to do was break the ice and she'd be talkative and not shy. But I had a problem.

I've wanted a little sister for a really long time (ok, she's only a few months younger than me. But still. That counts.). I've waited eight years for this girl. But with a sickening jolt, I realized that I had no idea how to say 'hi' to her.

_...Crap,_ I thought, freezing for the second time that day.

I guess she heard me reach her table, or maybe I said 'crap' out loud, because she glanced up at my face before looking back down. She's cute when she's shy, I realized! Not as cute as Hinata Hyuuga, of course, but...wait, you never heard me say that. Don't tell anyone I said that. Tell anyone I said that and you're dead.

"...Um..."

The girl half turned, almost looking at me. She started to say something, but then she choked and faced forward again, putting a hand on the caf table, so that her arm was between me and her.

I realized I was scaring her. Crap! I'd forgotten how scary the fang tattoos on my face could be. And now that I'm looking back, I can see that I had been doing the whole staring thing Shino and Gaara do that I hate.

_Say something. Say anything,_ I thought, racking my brains for _something_. I was supposed to be taking care of her! She shouldn't have to try to start a conversation! What was the guidance counsellor always telling me? ...oh yeah, "Take leadership!" So I said the first, non-creepy thing that came to mind.

"I'm, uh, your big brother!"

The girl just stared blankly at me.

I'm pretty sure time stopped.

It took a moment, but then I realized what I had just said.

...in my defense, that had sounded a _whole _lot better in my head.

* * *

Esperwen: Haha, so! How're you guys keeping up? Review, please; constructive feedback helps! I'll try to update this time next week!


	2. Brothers

Esperwen: Did I say a week? I meant...more than a week. ...eh-he...hehehe... Forgive me; exams are next week. I should technically be working on an essay (two, actually...) but I`m procrastinating. Yayz. And remember, I`m writing this as I go along...

Oh, btw, I`m new with this whole `first person perspective`thing, so I`m going to be putting whoever`s speaking`s name in parentheses before each portion of what they`re saying. ...Yes. Because I do not like character confusion...

Ok, everyone, read the chapter!

* * *

_-Chapter 2 __~ Brothers-_

_(Kiba)_

_(first day of school, lunchtime, Konoha City)  
_

"I'm, uh, your big brother!"

...That had sounded a _whole _lot better in my head.

I think I stopped breathing, for at least a full minute. Oh, and I froze up again.

_...CRAP!_ was my first thought, when I thawed out.

"...dammit!" I muttered, turning around and walking away. It was over. This girl was never going to look up to me. She probably thought I was King Creeper of all Creepers. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

I also really hoped that my older sister Hana would never hear about this. She would tease me about this forever, if she ever found out. And I hoped the guys weren't watching...

But before I got even three steps away, someone grabbed the back of my sleeve. I seriously thought someone had overheard what I'd said and was about to make fun of me. Imagine my surprise when I turned around, ready to start a fight, and I saw it was the girl! She was staring at her hands, not meeting my eyes; I really didn't know what to expect. I faced forward again, looking away from her, bracing myself for...anything. Damn, I was having a bad day...

"...did you mean that?" she whispered, almost too quietly, like she was really embarrassed about what she was saying. ...well, it's not like I was totally cool with what _I _had just said. …screw it, yeah, saying "Dur, I'm your big brother!" is extremely pathetic and I am definitely not proud of it! Damn, I was having a really bad day…

"...yeah," I answered, kinda gruffly, figuring I should be straight with her. I was also kinda glad the caf was loud and busy, and nobody was paying us much attention. We sounded like those mushy, sickening drama things my mom and sister were so crazy about.

After a moment, when neither of us said anything, I looked back at her, wondering what her reaction was. My eyebrows shot up when I saw that she had made herself look up and meet my eyes; she looked so sad and yet so happy, somehow.

"I guess I'm...I'm your little sister," she said quickly, obviously putting effort into getting her words out. She smiled a little, at me; a real one, better than in her photo.

…She really is cute.

I blinked, kinda stunned, then I smirked back. This was a little weird, but I can deal with weird if she can deal with creepy.

"Kiba Inuzuka," I nodded once, turning around so that we faced each other properly.

"Michiko," she smiled wider, holding a hand out to me.

When I shook her hand, part of me thought, "Now _this_ is how you say 'hi'." But another, sappier part of me thought, "That 8-year wait? Totally worth it."

~*~

_(Gaara)_

_(first day of school, after dismissal, Konoha City)  
_

"Oh, come on!" Kankurou rolled his eyes, "Could you give Kiba a break?"

_I wish you would give me a break, _I thought, but kept it to myself and let him continue.

"We all know you wanna watch people for a few weeks before meeting them. Hell, Shino does the same thing. But Shino had the manners to let Michiko see that he knew she existed!"

_Yes, and Shino is a traitor... _I thought, annoyed but not really meaning it, and said instead, "I still don't see how nodding or not nodding to a stranger is so important." _So Shino nodded to her when she sat down, and I didn't. Big deal._

"Ok, I _get _that being too friendly to strangers is usually a bad idea," Kankurou allowed, "But Michiko is Kiba's new foster sister. She's different."

"We have rules, Kankurou. And we hate exceptions," I said darkly, "We're the ones that weed out the rule breakers, remember?"

"Yeah, but..." Kankurou's voice trailed off, and then he said, shaking his head, "C'mon, Gaara...little brother! Can't you see how important Michiko is to Kiba?"

"Yes, he's been going on about how special she must be and how excited he is for a good two weeks," I answered, rolling my eyes, _Sickening..._

"He just wants her to feel welcome," Kankurou persisted.

"Then he should've waited until at least midterms before bringing Michiko to our table," I said, frowning a little; midterms would be in about two months and that was ample time to study Michiko and get a better idea of what she was like.

But no. After speaking to the girl for all of five minutes, Kiba had picked up her lunch tray and brought her to our table. Such was the impulsive, foolhardy behaviour that was typical of Kiba.

"...you said 'Michiko'!" my brother said suddenly, "You actually said her name!"

I thought back at what I said for a moment, and then grimaced. Shit. So I had.

"...This is _gold!_" Kankurou crowed, pointing at me excitedly when I didn't deny what I'd said, "You usually would've called her 'that girl' or just 'her' for over a month! But you freakin' said her _name! _Holy shit!"

My older brother laughed for about 3 minutes, doubled over. I felt an urge to pull his sandy blonde hair, but I restrained myself and after a moment, he came to his senses.

"Holy shit, _why?_" he asked in a very different tone of voice, raising an eyebrow at me, wondering at my strange behaviour. I can't say I blamed him; I was a little shocked myself.

"...something I saw. ...between 3rd and 4th period," I said, figuring I owed Kankurou an explanation, at the very least, "I saw Kidoumaru picking on some freshman. He'd stolen one of the kid's textbooks."

Kankurou's eyes narrowed when he heard that. Kidoumaru was a skinny senior that had been picking on freshmen for years. He also happened to be Kankurou's greatest rival on Konoha Central High's track team. I continued.

"Michiko was passing by and saw. Kidoumaru was dangling the textbook up out of the kid's reach; he was so busy laughing that he never saw Michiko. She ran in, elbowed Kidoumaru in the stomach, grabbed the book, hauled the kid out of harm's way, handed the book to him, and then disappeared into her next class. She was quick; I would have missed all that if I weren't already watching her. I don't think the kid even knows who helped him."

My brother made a low whistle. This wasn't behaviour we saw or heard of every day, at school. People minded their own business here, or stood on the sidelines to watch; bullies like Kidoumaru usually got away with whatever they did, because nobody bothered to stop any of it. Not even the teachers.

"Are you sure it was Michiko?"

I nodded. Of course I was sure. I never forget an important face, and I knew Kiba really wanted to take good care of Michiko. Ugh, there I go again, saying her name. What was wrong with me?

"Wow..." Kankurou shook his head, "Y'know Gaara, maybe you should change those rules of yours. You know. Think about ask-"

But he never got any further. Both of us heard gunshots in a nearby store. We turned to look, completely forgetting about who we were discussing, and saw a man in a ski mask come out of a nearby convenience store. He was stuffing something into the lining of his jacket. Cash, I realized.

Kankurou and I shared a look, and then we went around a corner into an empty alley so that nobody would see what we were doing. I threw our backpacks behind a dumpster, hiding them. Kankurou got a can of dark war paint from one of his pockets and started smearing it on his face, and I smudged some black dirt around my eyes, like a mask; nobody recognized us when we did this. And both of us tied around our foreheads headbands with our group's mark: A swirl ending in a point, Konoha City's symbol. Then we stepped back around the corner, ready.

By now, you must have figured out that my brother and I are more than just simple high school students.

"You robbed that store," Kankurou said out loud, getting the man in the ski mask's attention.

The man looked up, only just noticing we were there. At first, he looked startled. Then he sneered. At once, I felt a chill, though I kept my face impassive; I'd seen many sneers like that, here in this corrupt city. He was going to shoot us.

"So the rumours are true," the man growled, reaching for his gun, "You freaky superkids exist!"

"Please, call us the protectors," Kankurou said, almost cheerfully.

He raised his arms in front of him, the palms of his hands facing down, almost as if he were going to start boxing, but all three of us knew better. Kankurou twitched his fingers slightly, and 10 garbage can lids rose into the air around the robber. One lid for each finger.

You see, my brother can extend his energy into invisible strings, through the tips of his fingers. He then attaches these strings to objects, and by moving his fingers, he controls the objects. He calls it 'Puppetry'.

"Surrender," I said coolly, while preparing to use my own ability; mine took a while to get ready.

"Holy shit..." the robber muttered, staring wide-eyed at the can lids surrounding him, then shook his head to clear it, "Like hell! You guys can't be that hard to kill!"

He raised his gun, and flicked off the safety, aiming it at my head. I supposed I looked vulnerable, just standing there. But Kankurou always had my back, so I didn't worry. Instead, I crossed my arms and continued concentrating on my surroundings, searching for what I needed.

With a wordless yell, the man pulled the trigger, probably thinking it was the end of me. Idiot. Kankurou's two pinkies moved, and one lid balled itself up and flew in, taking the bullet for me. The other lid came down and hit the man's wrist, paralyzing his hand so he dropped the gun.

"Stupid move," Kankurou growled, moving more fingers.

Soon, the would-be robber was wrapped up tight in can lids, looking like he was in a metal strait-jacket. I thought it was excellent. I told Kankurou so. He laughed openly, his menacing air once again gone, and pulled out his cell phone to call the police so this guy would be arrested. I was a little disappointed; my ability was finally ready to use, but I hadn't gotten the chance to use it.

My power is to control sand with my mind. I can move sand at will, mould it into whatever shape I want, even pack it densely enough that bullets can't penetrate it. But I need to find sand first. Sand is everywhere; between sidewalk cracks, flaking off of cement, even in what little soil there is in this city. But it takes some time for me to sense it and call it to me. Annoying, and a bit of a set-back, but true.

Suddenly, just as Kankurou finished his call, we heard a shocked gasp. The trapped robber yelled something, just as we turned to see what was happening. There was a girl at the store's entrance, and when I saw her ski mask, and that she was levelling a gun at us, I realized she was the robber's partner.

As fast as I could, I pulled up all the sand I had found between my brother and I, and the girl, using it as a shield. I sensed a bullet pass through, and I heard Kankurou grunt, but I had to focus. I wanted to turn and check on my brother, but instead, I made the shield denser and found more sand in some potted plants the shop had been selling; I kept this smaller amount of sand behind the girl, where she couldn't see it.

The girl actually emptied her gun on my sand shield, but to my satisfaction, no other bullets passed through. I bundled the flowerpot sand as tightly as I could, so that a fist-sized rock formed. I briefly opened a window in my sand shield so I could see the girl, took aim, then closed the window lest she shoot again, and sent the rock hurtling towards the back of the girl's neck. She was so busy trying to reload her gun that she never knew what happened; the rock connected, and she crumpled to the ground, senseless. I breathed in when I heard her thump to the ground; I didn't even know I had been holding it.

"...You get her?"

My head snapped to Kankurou, alarmed; his voice hadn't sounded right. To my dismay, I found him kneeling on the ground, hands on his stomach.

I dropped the sand shield and hurried to his side. Bloody. He was so bloody. His hands, his face, his stomach...bloody.

"Did you...get her?" he asked again, when all I could do was stare; his voice was thick, like something wet was in his throat. ...more blood.

He smiled when I nodded; I didn't speak, not trusting my voice yet. I tried to help him get up, but he stopped me with a bright, red hand.

"Just clean...my face," he spluttered, when I looked at him confusedly; he had to see a doctor! "I called...911."

I immediately obeyed, but it took me a second before I understood. 911 meant that both the police _and _ambulances would be one their way. He would get medical help soon. But if they saw his face-paint, they would know he was a Protector, and it would only be a matter of time before the rest of us were discovered.

...even now, he still had my back.

He could be dying and he still had my back.

"...I'm sorry," I mumbled, when the last of the paint was gone, "My shield was poor."

"Shut up," Kankurou coughed, smirking through the blood, "It wasn't...on purpose."

He coughed loudly, so hard his body shook. He started to fall to the ground, but I caught him and helped him down carefully; he coughed the whole time. When he regained control of himself, he shook his head.

"It's over, Gaara. That was my...last act. Make sure you...go home. Don't wait. Let them think...I was...alone...and the Protec-" he started coughing again, a little spraying on my face, but I never noticed it until later; I was too stunned by what was happening before me, "...and the Protectors...were too late."

He was still planning how to keep me from getting discovered. And then he smiled at me. The bastard smiled at me.

"Don't worry...about me, Gaara. Just...get out...of here. Get out and...live to...Protect this city...in my place."

* * *

Esperwen: And there we are...first fight scene of the fic. Any questions or comments? Review and I'll see what I can do! Thanks for reading; review so that other people will want to read this, too!


	3. Bullies

Esperwen: Sorry, guys, I know I'm taking forever. I'm trying; I really am. But, exams are done, so things should be smoother now! Expect me to update once a week.

* * *

_-Chapter 3 ~ Bullies-_

_(Shino)_

_(first day of school, after dismissal, Konoha City)  
_

I am still undecided as to whether following Michiko was a good thing to do, or not.

Why am I undecided? I shall explain. Kiba had asked me to make sure Michiko got to her hotel safely, that first day of school, when we all first met Michiko. He would have walked with her himself, but a teacher had already assigned him to tutoring lessons, and he had needed to stay in school an extra hour, in order to meet with his tutor. Wanting to be a reliable friend, I had agreed.

But I, Shino, did not welcome the idea of walking beside a total stranger for any length of time. She may have been Kiba's new foster sister, and she may have had intriguing, black eyes, but Michiko was an unknown person and I did not trust her.

To compromise, I followed Michiko home at a good distance, so I could protect her, avoid her, and at the same time so I could observe her. I doubt she ever knew I was there. Everything started out smoothly, and the trip would have been fine if there had been no commotions in the street. But this was Konoha City. Street fights were as common as pigeons, here.

In an alleyway, two middle-schoolers were in a small fight. It was nothing serious; the two boys were really just wrestling and yelling at each other. In fact, I've seen Kiba and his older sister get into worse fights. Michiko should have done the smart thing and left them alone. Instead, after a moment of hesitation, she hiked up her backpack and entered the alley. Foolish thing...

"Hey! You two!" Michiko called, getting the two boys' attention, "What's wrong?"

The boys looked at each other, then Michiko. To my dismay, but not my surprise, they both got up off of the ground and turned to face her, together.

"What's wrong with _you_, nosy?" one boy sneered, "Can't ya mind your own business?"

Not bothering to listen further, and knowing exactly how things were going to end up (_badly_, of course), I stepped around the corner, hoping I had enough time. Hurriedly, I glanced around to make sure nobody was watching. When I saw the streets were empty, I pulled off my sunglasses and long, high-collared coat and hooded sweater, and threw all of that into my backpack. Hiding the bag out of sight, I smiled grimly; it was strange to say, but with my entire face showing, no-one would recognize me as Shino Aburame, now. Finally, I tied my insignia around my forehead, a black bandanna with Konoha City's symbol sewn onto it, and my transformation was complete.

Now, I was an anonymous Protector, a member of the secret, four-man vigilante group that Gaara had established about a year ago. We were a very private, but busy group; the police were a weak force and only ever helped with arrests, after all.

When I stepped around the corner, someone stumbled into me. I looked down and saw it was Michiko. I also saw bruise forming on her arm, most likely from a thrown rock or piece of junk. Just as I had expected, the two middle-schoolers had decided to gang up on her. Good thing she had tried to run away; this was the intelligent thing to do, rather than stand and fight.

When she collided with me, Michiko looked up, worried that she had found more trouble, so I smiled reassuringly at her. To my surprise, she blushed...a strange, warm feeling came over me, but I pushed the emotion aside. Instead, I helped her stand more properly and moved so I was between her and the boys. Business came first, strange feelings after.

The middle-schoolers had been smiling maliciously while attacking Michiko. But now that someone who could take them on was around, they looked on edge. This was good. I wanted to handle things without a fight, and this fear of theirs could be played on. I let them stew in uncertainty for a minute or two while I sized them up; I knew they could feel my stares, and that it bothered them. This was also good.

"...Do you know what I am?" I growled in a low voice, putting a thumb against my forehead to emphasize Konoha's symbol, there.

"You're a Protector," one boy answered quickly, and both of them nodded, anxiety plain on their faces, "You fight bad guys."

"Not quite," I rumbled, slowly stepping towards them as I spoke, "We _destroy _bad guys."

I could see both of the kids' throats bob as they swallowed. This was good. They seemed to have lost the will to fight.

"We...we're not bad guys," the first boy said, cringing where he was, "We were just goofing around."

"You weren't 'goofing'," I said corrected, my voice containing a dangerous edge, then motioned to Michiko, who was still behind me, watching silently, "You were bullying this girl."

"Yes, sir," the boy yelped, "We're sorry, sir!"

"Do you know what Protectors like me do to bullies like you?" I asked harshly, but quietly, always stepping towards them.

"N...no," the other boy stammered, he and his friend quailing when I got close.

"Well..." I bent down so that my face was right next to theirs, and then bellowed, "**They get punished!**"

Shocked into movement, the two boys both screamed, and without another word they ran out of the alleyway as fast as their legs could take them. Neither dared to look back; I'll admit I found this amusing.

Once the boys were out of sight, I turned around. Michiko looked a bit shaken up, gripping her book bag with both her hands; I walked up to her.

"Are you all right?" I asked when I reached where she was.

"I...uh-huh," she nodded, round-eyed.

"You must be new to town," I smiled thinly, wondering if her irises were actually black, or if they were just a very dark brown.

"How did you know?" she asked in that soft-spoken voice of hers, her eyebrows shooting up.

I was glad that she had to ask how I knew. She hadn't recognized me, after all. Being identified was my greatest concern; I would wear a mask, but I felt claustrophobic whenever I had one on. It always amazed me how unknown my face had become, having hidden it behind clothing for so many years. I had actually helped one of my younger cousins out of a house robbery, once, and he hadn't recognized me at all.

"How do I know? Anybody who has been here a week would have left those boys alone," I answered, shrugging easily, "Fighting is the only way most people can relieve their stress in this city. Their teachers must have yelled at them for no real reason, they got into an argument on the way home, and they began to fight," I shrugged again, "This occurs often."

Michiko nodded slowly, taking in what I had said. Somehow, she didn't seem overly surprised. I found this strange. When Kankurou and Gaara had first moved here, three years ago, they had been appalled at Konoha City's state.

"Here too, huh...?" I thought I heard her mutter.

She kept standing there, lost in her own thoughts, and I had to clear my throat and wave a hand in front of her face to get her attention.

"You should be heading home, kid," I said quietly, meaning to sound commanding, but losing it when she looked at me and met my eyes.

"I...oh," she blinked, and then laughed a little, embarrassed, "Right."

Michiko bowed once, formally, then half-smiled at me, "Thank you very much. For your help."

That smile...I watched after her for a bit, while she walked away, unable to help myself. _Such a strange girl... _I felt that warm feeling again, when I saw that gentle smile.

But the next day at school, when I saw her after classes, that feeling was completely and utterly gone.

~*~

_(Deniizu)_

_(second day of school, after dismissal, KC High)  
_

I don't know about you guys, but I love being homeless.

Sure, it's frickin' cold in the winter. And sure, people look at me like I'm carrying diseases, or something. But I don't care about that! I have no nagging parents, no curfew, no rent to pay, no rules; nothing to tie me down. So when my best friend, Michiko, was sent to a new foster home, I didn't have any problems moving with her!

...Granted, I couldn't afford a plane ticket, so I ended up arriving in Konoha City almost two days after Michiko did, since I had to hitchhike over, but I didn't care. Better late than never, right?

My name is Deniizu. I've lived on the street since I ran away from home four years ago, just a few months after I turned twelve. I didn't meet Michiko until about three years ago. She was the first one to ever say I was pretty...me, with my stupid green eyes and plain brown hair. I was the first one to ever protect her in a fight. ...we got our asses whipped during that fight, since it was five of them and only two of us, not to mention she couldn't fight for shit back then, but who cares? We're inseparable and unstoppable, now.

Once I arrived in Konoha City, the first thing I did was look for Michiko. I knew her school was Konoha Central High, and I also knew that classes would end at about the time I got there.

When I got to KC High, I saw that I had been right, of course; as soon as I walked in through the school's front doors, a bell rang and within minutes the hallways were packed with people. Nobody noticed me looking around; I gotta say their school's security was damn lax. I didn't know where Michiko's locker was, but I didn't mind; I figured I could just wander around the school until I found her.

What I hadn't counted on was this new school having students who were just as snotty as the ones at Michiko's old school. I should have known better; of course there would be kids like _them _around. You see, there was this crowd of girls that I noticed as I walked down the hallway. There were girls from all the grades in this school, but all of them had that annoying, 'I rule, you drool' look. Normally, I wouldn't care, but since they all moved to block my way, I had to pay them some attention.

"...What? I asked, rolling my eyes, knowing that these types of chicks were totally useless.

"I want your jacket," this one, redheaded girl said with a really irritating voice.

"...the hell?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"What's wrong with you" some freshman scowled.

"Yeah, are you retarded or something?" another girl asked.

"Karin wants your jacket."

The whole crowd of them were trying to get a word in.

"Yeah, and what Karin says goes."

Ah. I guessed that Karin was their leader, and they were all kiss-asses. Ugh, there were people like them in every school.

But just as the fifth suck-up started to say how stupid she thought I was, ("Gawd, you are _so _stupid!") I spotted Michiko down the hall, past the group of bitchy sluts that were bothering me. (I hate girls like them; can you tell?) I tried pushing past them to get to her, but they shoved me back. I glared at them, the morons.

"Ex_cuse_ me; we're not done with you!" some sophomore said, starting to snap her fingers at me, but her hand stopped when she saw my angry stare.

I decided to wait them out. They would probably bitch for a few minutes about my stupidity, forget why they were even there in the first place, and then shove me a couple times before leaving. Once, I would've just broken their wrists and gone on my way, but my friends back in Oto, our old city, had weeded that habit out of me. Not to mention Michiko would have been disappointed in me, if I'd livened things up so soon after arriving at a new school.

So I just ignored Karin and her minions and focused on watching Michiko. She already had a photo up in her locker...I wasn't sure, but I thought it was a copy of the group pic we took at the goodbye party our friends had for us. Yeah...I could see Temari's blonde hair and Shikamaru lazing up front, with Michiko in the middle with her arms around Pooriin and me's shoulders. That was us...did she miss the gang already? She looked so sad, and she always was pretty emotional...I guessed that Michiko did. I couldn't wait for these girls to leave me alone so I could help her out. Were they almost finished? I tuned in to check.

"..._so _don't know what hole you crawled out of..." a black-haired junior was sneering, and I went back to ignoring them; those sluts didn't seem like letting up on me any time soon.

A few minutes passed, and I was kinda surprised when the hallway didn't get any less crowded. Michiko's new school was _huge_. Good thing I'd found her locker so quickly; I could easily imagine myself getting lost or trampled, here.

I saw some guy in a long, hooded gray coat and sunglasses walk up to Michiko. And she smiled at him. This was interesting. He leaned on the locker beside hers and they got to talking. And Michiko seemed kind of...edgy and shy. This was typical Michiko behaviour when she was around strangers, but it was usually followed by Michiko making some excuse and running away; you should've seen how fast she ran from Temari when they first met! But this time, she was really trying to stay in one place. She's only ever done that twice, as far as I know: when we met Pooriin, and when she introduced herself to me. And there were good reasons why she put in so much effort, back then.

_Very _interesting. I didn't know Michiko was into tall, spooky guys. ...It looked like they were talking about something serious. Now, I know eavesdropping is rude. Hell, if I caught someone listening in on me, I'd make 'em wish they didn't even have ears. But I was really curious, and if this guy was hitting on my best friend, I wanted to make sure he had his priorities straight.

So I stood there and eavesdropped.

...Ok, you're probably wondering how that's possible. I mean, Michiko and Mr. Thinks-he's-good-enough-for-her were _way _down the hallway. And we can't forget Karin and her screw crew were in the way. (...hey, I liked that title...I will now call Karin and her friends "The Screw Crew!") I wouldn't be able to hear anything but hallway buzzing and Slut #4 telling me how greasy my hair looked.

But see, I have superpowers. No, seriously. I'm not Jean Grey, or anything, but back in hell-hole Oto, I was a vigilante of justice and awesomeness.

I can control airflow with my mind. If I concentrate enough, I can create tornadoes and fly through the air. And with almost no thought, I can make voices down the hall float straight into my ears.

"...funeral will be next Friday, during my afternoon classes," the guy was saying. ...That's not a good date location...idiot.

"Don't worry; I can take math notes for you," Michiko said reassuringly, trying her best to be nice, as usual. I really hoped she wasn't trying to win this guy over by doing his homework. I wasn't sure...but I thought from watching her that she liked Mr. No-face. I saw how hard she was trying to meet his eyes. Eye-contact made her self-conscious, so clearly, she was trying to make a good impression. ...but Michiko was the type of girl who silently pined after someone and left little gifts of chocolate or candy in his backpack; she never went right up to a guy and tried to talk.

"Um...I, um..." Michiko played with her hair as she closed her locker. She was _really _nervous. I was kind of proud of her effort, "I, um...I'll see you tomorrow?" Michiko said, speaking in a voice that was almost too high to be heard. With anybody else, she would have run screaming down the hallway; she's that antisocial, especially with guys.

This got me kind of annoyed, cute as she was. Right after she said "hi" to me and Pooriin, and explained why she needed to talk to us, she hauled ass. Michiko is seriously screwed up in the head...she has trouble with strangers. Why was she trying so hard with this guy? Even if she really, really liked him, she wouldn't be torturing herself over talking to him! ...someone must have wanted her to be nice to that guy and put her up to that. Maybe her foster family.

The guy nodded to her, picking up her backpack for her, then said, "You should be heading home, kid."

Trenchcoat guy started to say something else, but he stopped when he saw Michiko's expression. See, the thing about Michiko is that her face says everything that she's thinking. It makes her a crappy liar; her eyes sparkle, she blushes, she can't hide smiles...and right then, Michiko looked like she had just figured something out. Something big.

And it must have been something that No-face knew about, because suddenly, he changed. In fact, he did something that seriously pissed me off. For two seconds, he just stared at her. Two. Then, before I even knew what was happening, he shoved Michiko into a locker, pinning her with a hand around her neck! He crashed her into a freakin' locker!

Good thing I'm homeless. Because since I don't have parents, there's nobody to force me to go to school. And if I'm not attending a school, I can't get punished for shoving Karin and them aside, running down the hallway, and slugging No-face hard enough to knock him to the floor. Which was exactly what I did.

* * *

Esperwen: Well, I'm trying to keep chapters long. I'm really trying. What do you guys think so far? Review, please, now that you've read!


	4. Inuzuka, Chatora

Esperwen: Hello, _dah_lings! I have to attend summer school, starting next week, but have no fear; I shall faithfully update all things fanfiction on Fridays! Woot!

I'm starting to think this fic would make an awesome comic book...I'm adding time/place notes, as well as who's talking, before each 'scene'.

* * *

_-Chapter 4 ~ Inuzuka, Chatora-_

_(Pooriin)_

_(meanwhile, in Oto City)  
_

"Mission, success," Shikamaru smirked, flopping down onto an old, dusty couch.

He, Temari and I were all in an abandoned factory we'd found about a year ago. Well, technically Deniizu had found it, while the rest of us were in school, but all five of us had shared it. Over the months, we'd moved in some old furniture that people had left by the curb for garbage trucks to pick up. There was the couch Shikamaru was on, a wobbly coffee table in the centre, a handful of different dining room chairs, and a ripped, plush armchair, all arranged in a circle. We had an old, wooden dresser in one corner, with one drawer missing, where all of us had kept some spare clothes. Deniizu had kept all her stuff here; this was where she'd lived, before she left with Michiko. And there was a mirror beside the dresser.

"Barely a success," I sighed, removing the mask I wore during our missions, and I got up and went over to the mirror.

Now that the mission was over, I was Pooriin Chatora again, Grade 10 high school student. I looked myself over, checking to make sure I hadn't gotten hurt without realizing it. But my tan skin was all intact, my long, wavy black hair was still in its usual ponytail… My whole, short-ish body was just fine. I made a face at myself in the mirror, squinting my big, brown eyes and scrunching up my round face, before relaxing and turning back to the other two people in the factory.

"If by 'barely a success' you mean, 'we got shot at,' we couldn't help that," Temari said from the armchair, "None of us knew that someone was waiting for us with a gun."

"It had nothing to do with Deniizu and Michiko no longer being with us, Pooriin," Shika agreed, sinking into the old couch.

I rolled my eyes. Of course he agreed with Temari; she was his girlfriend. I grew up with Shika, and I know that his mom taught him to always be a gentleman, and that included treating his girl like gold. Apparently, in Shikamaru's mind, treating a girl like gold included letting her walk all over him almost all the time. I used to think it was cute, but without Deniizu or Michiko to argue with me anymore, I never had anyone on my side, and it bugged me. Especially since they were denying the fact that in the one week our two teammates were gone, we were always fighting for our lives.

"I honestly think it does," I said, shaking my head and sitting in a chair, "... I don't think you should do missions anymore. It's getting too dangerous."

"Pssh... Hang up this job?" Temari shook her head, "C'mon, Pooriin! Running around Oto like this is the best thing that we've ever done!"

Temari was right, of course. She was almost always right. I've known her for two years, and I've always admired her. I mean, she's only two years older than me, but she's so wise and kind. And it's not like she's had an easy life. Her parents died in a car crash and now she lives with her grandmother. On top of that, she doesn't know what happened to her two younger brothers, who were also in the crash. But she's always so big and tough… Michiko, Deniizu and I all looked up to her.

"We can't stop now, Pooriin," Temari said, adding, "We promised Deniizu and Michiko we wouldn't, remember?"

Again, she was right. This whole Team Masque idea had been theirs, after all. Both of them had seen how ugly Oto could be; that was why they had made up our team. Team Masque, our team of vigilantes, was a legacy that they had created, and we had promised them we'd keep it alive.

And what was more, Temari refused to believe that Deniizu and Michiko were definitely gone. She believed that one day, Deniizu and Michiko would move back to Oto City. I knew she wanted to keep our "superhero" team together so that our friends would have something to come back to.

But at that moment, Shikamaru finally realized what I had said.

"Wait a second, Pooriin," he sat up and leaned forward a little, tenting all his fingers together the way he did when he was working out a problem or plan, "What did you mean by 'you shouldn't fight anymore'? It sounded like you meant just me and Temari."

Temari looked up at me sharply when she heard that.

"Don't tell me…" she started, but then she lost her voice when I nodded slowly.

"…shit," Shika hissed, falling back on the sofa, then he stomped a foot when he said it again"…shit!"

"My dad's been transferred," I whispered, throwing my mask onto the coffee table, "The whole family is moving away, next month."

~*~

_(Michiko)_

_(four weeks later, Konoha City)  
_

Konoha was certainly different from what I expected. For one thing, my new family actually..._wanted _me! I honestly didn't expect that...I was suspicious for a while, but honestly, the Inuzuka's are the nicest people I have ever met.

Tsume, my foster mom, works so hard to take care of her family; her husband died eight years ago, y'know. She has two jobs to handle, but she always manages to at least come home in time to say goodnight. Sometimes, she brings take-out and we all eat dinner together! It's great...so great...

My new foster sister's name is Hana. She's such a sweetheart; you have no idea! She's 21 years old and is studying to be a veterinarian at a local college. _And_, she's working part time for both tuition money _and _to help Tsume with the bills.

And Kiba! He's awesome! I mean, Kiba's only four months older than me, but he's so willing to be my big brother. He's kinda rough around the edges sometimes, trying to act all cool all the time, but he always makes sure someone walks home with me, or that I've got my lunch, or that I'm awake in time for school. He's always looking out for me.

And Kiba's going through a really tough time, too. One of his closest friends, I think Kankurou was his name, was shot during some store robbery a few weeks ago. He died...Hana says Kiba's usually loud and goofy, but as far as I've known him, he's been quiet. He hasn't smiled much until recently; I only see him smile a little when I call him 'bro'. It started as a joke, but now I'm calling him that as much as possible; considering how nice he's been to me, I think I'll do just about anything to make him smile, even if it's small.

After all the tears, and the darkness that I went through in Oto City, Konoha City with Inuzuka's felt like I was light and free. Like I was happy, and I could be as happy as I wanted for as long as I felt like. There was just one little dark patch that kept things from being perfect: I wished that _Shino_, of all people, hadn't been Kiba's best friend.

Kiba trusted Shino the most, and that was why Shino was the person who walked me home from school, every day. Konoha City was a dangerous place; I'd only been there a few weeks, and I'd already seen plenty of street fights, muggings, and even a couple robberies. I helped people out of trouble, when I could, but most of the time Shino was there, so I couldn't do anything but point a problem out, so that Shino could go in and save the day.

Because Shino was the guy that rescued me, on my first day in Konoha. And even though he was disguised, I just _had _to recognize him the next day at school. Just _had _to. His identity was supposed to be a secret, but I recognized him. He freaked out when he realized I knew what he was, and shoved me into a locker, and then my best friend Deniizu punched him so hard she knocked him to the ground. So now he was angry and didn't trust me. I had tried _so _hard that day, trying to talk to Shino so that we could be friends and Kiba could be happy. But then he got all angry and mean.

Normally, I would give someone like him some space, but Kiba wanted Shino to walk home with me every day, and Kiba didn't know everything about what had happened between Shino and me, and I couldn't tell Kiba what had happened because if I told Kiba, then that would just add _more _stress to his life, which I didn't want to do because his life was tough enough as it was. So I had to walk home with Shino. Every day.

Shino never said a word to me if he could help it.

And I had to be friendly, because he was best friends with Kiba. I'm not a very good conversationalist. I don't trust people. I have no people skills.

It sucked.

I looked as Shino sideways, one day, thinking these things as we both walked home. I found myself wishing Kiba hadn't had so many remedial classes after school. If it weren't for those extra classes, Kiba would be with me, not Shino. Or at least the three of us would be together, and bro would be able to handle a conversation...

"What?" Shino asked tersely, always managing to see everything I'm doing. I faced forward quickly, with a jump; he always managed to startle me.

"I was...I was just wondering," I stammered, before clearing my throat and trying again, "Did you tell the other Protectors about me yet? About what I know?"

Shino was a Protector, one of a team of three. I heard stories about the Protectors ever since I came to the city; they were the ones who stopped crime in Konoha. These anonymous, disguised heroes were the talk of Konoha City High; apparently each of them had some kind of superpower, and almost everyone admired them. Sometimes, guys in KC High drew a swirly symbol on their arms (the same insignia was the Konoha City symbol, and what the Protectors had sewn onto the bandannas they always wore around their foreheads) and fought in the city's main park after classes, hoping to be seen by the Protectors and recruited onto their team. But Shino says that those boys never will join his team; only people with special powers could join, and none of those people ever seemed to be found. I didn't know who the other two Protectors were; only Shino.

'Protectors'...that reminded me of Team Masque, back in Oto City...

"Have I told them?" Shino shook his head stiffly, "No."

"Why not?" I wondered out loud, then glanced at him, hoping I hadn't touched a nerve; Shino got upset over the most unlikely things, I'd learned early on. For instance, I couldn't talk to him about how he and Kiba first got to know each other. I tried asking him that, just to make conversation, and he gave me such a glare...He didn't ever hurt me (he apologized for that locker incident, but I didn't know if it was sincere or if Kiba told him to do it), but he _did _glare or ignore me. And I think that hurt more.

"'Why not?'" Shino repeated, before thinking for a moment then answering quietly, "...I don't know."

I felt this weird ache in my chest when he said that last part. I don't know why. ...I could never figure out that guy! He could be so cold and scary one moment, and then the next moment...I've seen him rescue people, (or even when he rescued _me_!) and he was so gentle and kind. And it was frustrating trying to predict when he would act each way!

...I would've given up trying to be nice to Shino, and would've just ignored him like how he tried to ignore me, if I had never seen that softer side of his. I liked that softer side...

"Would they...how would they react if they knew-" I tried to ask.

"I don't know!" Shino snapped, making me flinch, then repeated softly, almost apologetically, "This has never happened before."

"Yo! Michiko!"

My head turned away from that unpredictable boy to look down the street. Deniizu was waving for me to join her. I remembered that we were going to take the bus to the airport that day. Pooriin, one of our closest friends, was moving to Konoha! We were going to meet with her family and help them move in.

I looked up happily to say goodbye, but my smile faded when I sensed the vibe he was giving off. Deniizu and Shino still hadn't made up with each other. Honestly, they couldn't stand each other; Shino trusted Deniizu less than he trusted me (if that were possible) and Deniizu had never seen anything but Shino's aggressive side. So, of course they were always hostile with each other.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked Shino, wondering where the vulnerable, caring Shino went.

"Yeah," Shino answered stiffly, turning on his heel and walking away, never even looking at me.

I wished he weren't like that so much. I wished Shino could just relax and we could be friends. For Kiba's sake.

Maybe it was his job as a Protector which was bothering him. Maybe it was because he was so stressed from running around Konoha City that he acted coldly like that.

Maybe, when Team Masque came to Konoha, that stress would lighten. Maybe things would get easier when Pooriin, Deniizu and I helped with all the fighting. Maybe Shino could stop being so angry, and maybe things would be better between us. ...Maybe.

~*~

_(Kiba)_

_(a couple hours later, Konoha City)_

As I finally got out of tutoring classes, and stepped outside of our crappy, run-down old school, I breathed deep, already slipping out of school mode and getting into goof-off-unil-midnight mode. Good thing I didn't have a shift on my part-time job that night; I hated working on Mondays. Now I could go running with my dog, Akamaru, or hang out downtown with Kan...

My pace as I walked along the diewalk slowed down, and my mood fell a little. It had been almost a month, since Kankurou's funeral, but I was still making plans in my head like he was around. Damn. I gritted my teeth and shook my head, getting a grip on myself before I got misty-eyed, or something.

The death was hard on all us guys. On one hand, the Protectors were down to just three of us; the streets of Konoha were just a little be less safe, now. But on the other, more important hand, we'd all lost a great friend. I know Shino's my best friend, but Kankurou was still up there as a close second, and I can't always act as wild as I want when Shino's around. Kankurou was just the type of guy that you could relax around; it was like stress didn't work around Kankurou.

I knew Shino and Kankurou were close. Both he and Kankurou were Gaara's seconds-in-command (Gaara trusted me, but thought I was too irresponsible to make plans. ...which was partly true); they planned and got info for missions together, while Gaara figured out what had to be done first and what could wait until later. Shino had lost someone he'd spent a lot of time with, and he didn't have a lot of friends; people think Shino's antisocial and ignores everyone, but it's just that it's hard for Shino to open up to people. He took the shooting accident really hard. Shino's normally a good guy, trying to handle things without a fight. But the day he got the news Kankurou was...gone, when Michiko said something just a little too personal, he threw her against a locker. A freakin' locker! He couldn't just walk away, like he normally would; he was just so cut up about Kankurou.

But none of us had it as bad as Gaara. Their parents died in a car crash when they were little, and they got separated from their older sister, so between crappy foster homes, Kankurou was the one who ended up raising Gaara. Gaara was really close to his brother; I think the only reason Gaara hung out with us at first between jobs was because we were friends with Kankurou. And now that he was gone...I'm just glad Gaara trusts us now. If he hadn't been friends with us...I could easily see Gaara leaving Shino and me and going crazy alone.

I wished Michiko didn't have to first meet us with something like this hanging over our heads. I'd read her file, and I knew she found it hard to relate to people. I guess if I hadn't told her that first day that I wanted to be her brother (or just that I'd actually wanted her around), she would've had a really bad time getting used to this place. Hell, she might have even been miserable; when we go to school together, Michiko holds onto my arm like we're swimming and she'll drown if she lets go. But she's been a sweetheart about everything. Hana and Mom couldn't always be there for me, because we were all so busy, but Michiko's visited me at work, and she lets me talk to her for as long as I need. And she calls me 'bro'. ...It helps.

I think Shino's warming up to her, too. I'm kind of forcing them to get to know each other, since I make him walk her home every day, but he isn't sulking about, "wasting his time," or, "dealing with a stranger," like he normally would. Either he thinks she's cool or he's considering this fair punishment for hurting her before. Whatever; so long as she got to our little townhouse safely, it didn't matter.. I originally wanted Kankurou to walk her half the time, but...

...but...

...

...dammit...

...

Michiko gets home safely. That's what's important.

She's really a good kid, always trying to be helpful. Her only real problem is her so-called 'best friend', Deniizu.

Gawd, I don't get what her deal is with Deniizu.

Deniizu's Michiko's homeless friend, who's been following her between foster homes since they were thirteen. Michiko says they've been through a lot, and Deniizu's like a sister to her. She also thinks Deniizu's pretty. I don't know..she has pale skin and brown, shoulder-length hair; not really my type. And her eyes are green, like Gaara's. Maybe that's what's really bugging me, her eyes...they don't belong on a 16-year-old girl; it's like they've...seen too much, or something. Deniizu's supposed to be nice, too, but I don't see it. Whenever I'm around her, I just see this manly girl that goes around punching and kicking everything she sees. I'm not making stuff up; it's true! Once, during lunch, Michiko went outside to hang out with Deniizu. When I went to tell Michiko lunch was almost over, the first thing I see is Deniizu, punching and kicking some tree. Michiko was ignoring it, and they were still laughing and joking about whatever they were talking about, but still! What the hell was she sparring with a freakin' tree for?!

...I should try that some time; sparring with trees, I mean. Probably wont's get detention for suck-punching a tree.

I smirked a little while I was thinking this; I was griping about nothing and I knew it. I just wanted to complain about something; blow off some steam. Deniizu's ok...she has to be; Michiko trusts her.

I pulled a slip of paper out of my pocket and check the address Michiko had scribbled there earlier, making sure I was walking the right way. As it turned out, another friend of Michiko's was coming to Konoha; they were flying in that day. I shook my head when I re-read the address and put the paper away; the house was in an area full of really nice, big estates. Michiko had told me her friend's family had had their stuff professionally shipped and arranged in their new home; they sounded rich.

I couldn't help but wonder how Michiko became close friends with both a homeless kid and a businessman's daughter. I mad a mental note to ask her some time.

It was a 45 minute walk, but I eventually reached the house; it would've been a 15 minute bus ride, but I didn't have any spare change for bus fare.

_Damn,_ I thought, staring at the large, white mansion when I reached it, _It's a freakin' hotel!_

Michiko's friend was definitely rich. The garage had room for 3 cars, the main entrance had huge double doors...it had two floors and an attic, with the roof of their garage doubled as a freakin' veranda.! You could walk around , and have a picnic, on their freakin' garage! That. Was. Awesome. I wondered if they had a pool...

At that point, I was kind of glad Michiko had a safe friend to hang out with. I mean, I saw her talking to Hinata and Sakura between classes, and she lent Ino a pencil once (I'm not a stalker; Ino came to our table during lunch to give it back and I saw...), but I could tell she wasn't comfortable around them; they weren't really her friends. Deniizu and her other three friends back in Oto were the people she truly cared about. It would take her a while before she really hung out with people from K.C. High, but until then, at least I knew she still had this rich kid to keep her from wandering around with Deniizu.

I was thinking all these happy thoughts until I saw the limo and SUV that rolled into the driveway. I read the licence plate on the limo. Then my mind went in a totally different direction.

"Kiba, you're here" Michiko exclaimed, jumping out of the SUV as soon as it parked.

She was all smiley, running over to grab my arm and drag me across the driveway, where Deniizu, and the two other people (one boy, one girl) were getting out of the car. She shouldn't have been.

"C'mere, you have to meet them!" Michiko said, pointing first at the girl, who was about our age, with tan skin and long, wavy black hair, saying, "This is Pooriin, the girl I've been telling you about! And the one who drove us is her brother, Goudon," she added, pointing to a tall college boy with fair skin, short, brown hair and hazel eyes, "And Goudon's twin brother rode in the limo with their parents...he's kind of mean, so he'll probably ignore us."

"Yeah, my brother's a douche. Nice to meet ya," Goudon said with a smile, holding a huge hand towards me; I noticed an ientical-looking guy step out of the lmo, and figured that was the douche brother.

"Michiko was talking about you the whole ride here," his younger sister added, hurrying to join us with a big smile on her face, "Thanks for taking care of-"

"Your last name's Chatora?" I interrupted bluntly, ignoring Goudon's hand and cutting my eyes off of Pooriin to look at him; Pooriin and Deniizu stopped dead in their tracks when they heard that.

"Well, yeah," Goudon started, confused, then he put this stupid smile on, "Oh, you think it's weird that the license plate numbers say 'Chatora'. Yeah, our dad set that up; I thought it was kind of-"

"What's his name?" I asked, annoyed, then added when everyone just stared at me, "Your dad, genius, what's your dad's name?"

"Kiba..."Michiko looked at me, kind of hurt.

I knew she didn't understand what was going on, and felt a little prick of guilt for what I was putting her through. But I pushed that thought out of my mind. I could tell her later. This was important.

"I...don't see how that's important," Goudon said, shaking his head.

"What's your problem?" Deniizu asked, stepping forward.

"Is there a problem, kids?" a man said, before I could snap at Deniizu.

He had spoken from behind Goudon, where I couldn't see him. But when Goudon moved over to make way for him, my eyes narrowed. I recognized him, all right. That was the guy.

The middle-aged man had dark brown hair, fair skin, and gray eyes. He was a married businessman with three kids. A normal, honest-looking face, with what looked like a normal, honest life. But I knew better.

"It's you!" I growled, baring my teeth at him, "You're Koshinu Chatora!"

"In the flesh," he nodded with a smile, as if I was complimenting him, then he started to recognize me, "Wait...wait, those tattoos..are you by any chance related to Hige Inuzuka?"

"He was my father," I snapped, "And you aren't good enough to even say his name, you bastard!"

"Kiba!" Michiko exclaimed, and that Pooriin girl moved closer to her, surprised, I guess, at how mad I was.

"The hell?!" the twin brother said from the mansion's front door; he had been trying to get inside, but now he walked toward us.

"Hey!" Goudon said at the same time, stepping forward, "You can be rude to me, but that's my fath-"

"Michiko, c'mon," I growled, grabbing her arm, "We're leaving."

"What?" Michiko yelped, when I started to pull her away, "Hey! Ow, what're you doing?!"

"You're never going to talk to any of them again, Michiko. That's an order!" I growled.

""What the hell is wrong with you?! Stop!" Deniizu snapped grabbing Michiko's other arm so that I had to stop pulling.

"You're hurting her!" the Chatora girl exclaimed, trying to pry my hand away.

"Don't touch me! You just don't get it!" I snapped, first at the Chatora, then at Deniizu; Michiko looked like she was about to cry, and Deniizu looked pissed, but I didn't care, "Koshinu Chatora ruined my family! He's a liar and he can't be trusted!"

"Don't talk about my dad like that!" Goudon and Pooriin yelled at the same time.

"Let Michiko go!" Deniizu added.

But I ignored them all. I knocked Deniizu's hand away and started pulling Michiko away from that sickening family with their stolen money.

"Those people are trouble, Michiko! You can't hang around them anymore; I won't let you!"

* * *

Esperwen: Kiba is great for the drama. Michiko is great for the neuroticness. Pooriin is great for the teen angst. Shino is great for the observance. Deniizu is great for the sarcasm. Gaara is great for the missions. I lurves them, I do...

Ok, you've read all this. I charge you to review! I give out internet food to reviewers!


	5. Enter Team Masque

Esperwen: Ok...um...I said once a week, and that _is _my goal, but summer school is busier than I expected it to be. So, if I don't update this story, I've either updated my other story, or I wrote a note for you guys in my profile. 'K, here's your chapter!

* * *

-_Chapter _5 ~_ Enter Team Masque_-

_(Gaara)_

_(Monday, three days after the Chatora incident)  
_

Michiko wasn't a suspicious person, I was forced to admit after a month of observing her. Kiba had insisted on constantly having her sit at our table, but when she sat quietly and displayed impeccable table manners, I stopped minding her presence. My brother, Kankurou, would have congratulated me for my tolerance.

Michiko had sat with us during lunch for a good four consecutive weeks. On some days, she would leave early to hang around with a friend of hers who Kiba refuted to be homeless, but she always started lunch at the Protectors' table. So, I was a little surprised, one day, when I walked in to see her sitting alone at a table across the lunch room.

"Did Kiba and Michiko have a fight?" I asked Shino, who was sitting beside me as usual; it was a Monday, and I guessed that something might have happened between the two eerily close foster siblings over the weekend.

"A fight? Yes, but that is not why Michiko is over there," Shino answered, his voice a little muffled by the collar of his coat.

I watched as Kiba walked up to Michiko, lunch tray in hand, and started to try and reason with her. Michiko only shook her head, not even looking up at her foster brother and refusing to move. After maybe 10 minutes of this, a girl slid into a seat across from Michiko, sparing Kiba only the thinnest of smiles before focusing her full attention on Michiko. This girl was new to me; I'd never seen her before that day. She seemed to be a second year student like Kiba, Michiko and the rest of us. I might have said she was related to Michiko, because their skin and hair colourings were similar, but her hair was wavy, and their heights and builds were different.

If his peeved expression was any indication, Kiba clearly didn't like the new girl, which was strange, because Kiba was usually overly friendly with everybody, especially females. After squeezing Michiko's shoulder (which looked more like a warning than a sign of affection, to me), Kiba walked across the room to join us at our table.

"Who was that?" I asked, just as Kiba sat down.

"Michiko's friend from Oto City," Kiba grumbled, tearing a pudding cup open angrily, "She's a worse influence than Deniizu."

"A worse influence? But she seems well-to-do...friendly...and polite," Shino pointed out, as all three of watched the stranger smile and wave to a group of girls who had decided to introduce themselves to her.

No doubt everyone in school had noticed that the girl was wealthy. It was a normal day at school, and she was wearing designer clothing and had had her nails professionally manicured; I was interested to know why her parents had not enrolled her into a private school, like KC High's rival, the Blessed Academy of Opportunity Private School. She was friendly, too; with her perfectly set hair, she smiled at everyone who caught her eye and easily stepped into small talk with people who approached her. She looked like any other prep or social butterfly, like Sakura Haruno or Ino Yamanaka, KC High's most famous girls. Not a day went by where Kiba did not complain about Michiko's homeless friend, who apparently was loud, dirty, rude, violent, etc. I would have thought that since the girl across the room was well-off, Kiba would approve of her hanging out with Michiko. But no, he had to whine about this one, too.

"She's a Chatora. Pooriin's a Chatora and part of the freakin' main family!" Kiba growled, and suddenly his anger made sense.

All the Protectors knew that the Chatora and Inuzuka families had had bad blood between them for about eight years. The Inuzuka had been openly opposed to the Chatora, I knew, using force (mainly vandalism, but there had also been street fights) to put pressure on the Chatora family. The Chatora had been more private about their dislike of the Inuzuka; any extortion, harassment, or slandering had occurred behind closed doors. In the end, when the two families' feud had become too much of an issue in Konoha City (when it started affecting almost everyone in our city, in both personal and business matters), both Chatora and Inuzuka chose to be diplomatic and had moved their main families away. I had never been given any specifics about the event, since I had not been involved (or even living in the city) at the time, and I wondered what could have brought the main Chatora family back to Konoha City.

"She can't be all that bad," Shino said carefully, "She must have done something to earn Michiko's trust."

"Chatora is Chatora, and that blood is strong in that one's veins," Kiba insisted in a snap, glaring across the room as he bit into the sandwich he had bought.

I struggled with refraining from rolling my eyes, knowing that Kiba's constantly high emotions were something that I could not change, but also wanting to be at least a little supportive of my friend. He was never subtle about his loyalties; either Kiba truly loved or truly hated a person. Kiba was not part of the main family, but according to what Shino has told me, his family had been integral to whatever event had started the feud, so of course Kiba was one of the Inuzuka who was most opposed to the Chatora family.

I waited a decent interval before saying, "...at least we can talk about business, now, without being overheard."

"...that's true," Kiba allowed with a sigh, he and Shino both nodding.

I was glad when I saw Kiba forcing himself to calm down. He could always be counted on with taking Protector business seriously, without letting his emotions get in the way, even if he never did that with anything else; he was completely loyal to our cause and would do anything within his power to support it, including developing some self-control over personal feelings. It would have been irritating if I had had to discuss Konoha City's crime situation at the same time as dealing with Kiba's anger.

"Did either of you two read this morning's paper?" I said, sitting up a little straighter.

For an answer, Shino pulled a newspaper clipping from a coat pocket and put it on the table. 'Elegant team halt bank robbery' was the main headline, and underneath was a picture of three girls posing for a camera. They were wearing masks that covered the top halves of their faces (around their eyes), and all were obviously in costume. These supposed heroes were certainly flashy; they looked like they meant to attend a masquerade ball of some sort.

"Those girls actually spoke to a reporter, for an interview, at the crime scene," Kiba said, his mouth full of sandwich.

"They are calling themselves 'Team Masque'," Shino added, pointing to the team's unusual spelling where it was printed in the article's subtitle, 'Tired of the sorry state of Konoha City, Team Masque is here to cheer things up.'

"But we already got things covered," Kiba frowned as he popped open a can of soda, starting to get angry all over again.

"You think this Team Masque is a threat?" I asked, thinking that their bright, fancy clothes made then seem like more of a joke than a possible enemy. Yes, the article said that each of them had special powers, much like the Protectors, but who in their right mind fights in a dress? Or a gym outfit?

"No, that's not what I meant," Kiba shook his head, "I just...y'know? I mean, if they know we're here, why are they bothering to come out?"

"Perhaps they think we are not doing a good enough job," Shino suggested, "You must admit, now that there is only three of us, we have an even heavier burden than before."

"Then why not just ask us if they can join us?" Kiba asked, still frowning, "People have been wanting to join us forever."

"You think they are in the wrong? Perhaps because they do not know who to ask or how to find us," Shino suggested.

"I don't like them. It's like they're trespassing on our territory," Kiba shook his head, both loyal andprotective to our group, "Like they wanna take over."

"'Taking over' seems a bit much," Shino shrugged, "They look like they only want to help Konoha City, and is that not what we Protectors do? Judging from this interview, Team Masque seems friendly."

"C'mon, Shino, even the interview smells shifty," Kiba growled, "Not to mention they even named their own team! I think they want to do their own thing, and they're getting interviews so that we're, y'know...not as popular as them, or something."

"Or, this is their publicity stunt to get our attention," Shino said, staying firmly logical, "Perhaps they have been fighting in other parts of Konoha for some time now, and we never noticed them. So, they do this so that we're almost forced to hear about them. It's rather clever, actually."

"We shouldn't trust them; they're edging on turf that we've rightfully earned," Kiba insisted, draining his can of pop and crumpling it with one fist, "I think this stunt of theirs is a threat, and I say we challenge them. They need to know their place."

"Challenge them? To what end? People will only get hurt," Shino shook his head slowly, "They say they want to help Konoha, and they have no reason to lie. Therefore, their goals are the same as ours. I believe we should invite Team Masque to join us."

Both of them looked at me. The Protectors had always dealt with problems this way, bouncing ideas, opinions and questions off of each other. Each of them would try to get a good grasp of the situation, and suggest a solution, but in the end, the final decision was mine.

"...What should we do, Gaara?" Kiba asked, when I didn't speak for a moment.

I had been studying the newspaper clipping, or rather, the back of it; the article there had caught my eye. It read, "Protectors leaving Konoha vulnerable" and below that in smaller letters, "City heroes made few appearances in past month." The article had an amateur photo of the four Protectors, with one of us circled and its caption reading, "Where has the Puppet Master gone?" The papers had noticed that Kankurou was no longer around. The article suggested that the Puppet Master had lost hope and abandoned Konoha, and soon the other Protectors would follow suit.

If only they knew that founding the Protectors was Kankurou's idea. If only they knew how much he wanted to take care of Konoha, and what had really happened to my older brother.

...now I was angry.

"Well..." I answered slowly, answering Kiba's question, "I say we find Team Masque...tonight if possible. We will speak to them. If their motives are indeed good, we will recruit them to the Protectors. If not..." my eyes narrowed, "...then we will stop them."

I would not have them cast a shadow on my brother's legacy.

~*~

_(Shino Aburame)_

_(later)  
_

That Monday afternoon, Michiko had actually approached me to make sure it was I who walked her home. I found this strange, since I had figured that by now my accompanying her was established routine, but when she explained why she was double-checking, I understood her worry. The girl, Pooriin, had offered to have Michiko driven home, which would have been the safer choice, but Michiko had politely declined, not wanting Kiba to be any more upset with her than he already was. By now, I had realized that Michiko was insecure around people; I guessed that she had felt guilty about being such close friends with a Chatora, one of Kiba's sworn enemies, and wanted to 'make it up to him' by ensuring that she was still spending time with his best friend. I couldn't help but wonder how Michiko ended up this neurotic.

Naturally, because of all that inner turmoil she seemed to be feeling, Michiko did not feel like talking, and since she was the one who kept our conversations going, we walked in silence. This was fine by me; I wanted time to reflect on the night before.

What happened Sunday night? I will explain.

_(Sunday afternoon)_

Team Masque had been big news all weekend; they had appeared briefly as a group of mysterious, costumed teens rescuing two kids from a mugging in Sunday's paper, the day before their 'major performance', so after reading that article, I had spent the rest of that day searching for a sighting of them.

I had actually seen them in action at that bank which had been on the front page of Monday's paper, though I had kept my distance. They had been quite efficient, working together with strong teamwork, and they even had special abilities. The event had been rather enjoyable to watch.

There had been three robbers; two in the bank and one in their escape car. The girl in the pink aerobics outfit had run into the bank at a super speed, snatching both robbers' guns before they could react. Another girl was wearing a flak vest and pants patterned with gray camouflage, and had used large gusts of wind to create a small tornado in the bank, keeping the would-be robbers trapped where they stood. The robber in the car tried to get away, but then the girl in a long, blue dress appeared. She jumped in front of the getaway car as it pulled away from the curb, and stopped it with her body; the car crashed into her and was actually crushed in the front, as if it had driven into a telephone pole, while the girl was completely fine.

Not only that, but Team Masque also waited for the police to arrive; the girls in gray and blue kept guard over the robbers, while the girl in pink helped the bank go on with its business. Once the authorities came to the scene, as well as news teams, each of them spread out to share their tasks; the girl in blue helped the police handle the bank robbers, the girl in gray handled their interviews, and the girl in pink took care of crowd control.

It had all been so simple, and yet so effective. As I walked away from the attempted robbery, I had to admit to myself that I was impressed.

But what about Sunday night? Of course I didn't forget...

_(Sunday night)_

That night, I had been reading a book when I heard a tap at my bedroom window. I turned to look, and almost threw my book as a defensive measure when I saw the blue Masque member sitting on the outside sill. My room is on the second floor of my home. There are no trees or vines near that window. She shouldn't have been able to get up there.

"Hey...I know it's late, but could you let me in?" she asked clearly, "I don't wanna hurt you. I just wanna talk. Promise."

I stood up slowly, hesitating. She sounded sincere about not meaning any harm, but nobody in their right mind makes house calls at 11:38pm. I did not relish the thought of this strange girl entering my home, but I also knew that it was rude to make her sit outside. To compromise, I said that I would let her in as long as she stayed at that side of the room and did not make any sudden movements. She agreed, so I crossed the room and opened the window, thinking to myself that she didn't look too threatening, and I was probably more experienced with fighting than her; I should be fine. I was going to pop our the screen, too, so she could come in and I could see her better, but the girl did something amazing.

She passed right through the screen, like a ghost.

I stepped back to give both of us space and to size her up. She seemed peaceable now, but if she got aggressive, I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought her ability was super strength, but clearly I was mistaken. She just went through a screen; would I even be able to defend myself if she attacked?

She only looked back at me, standing quietly with her hands clasped behind her back; that wasn't much of a fighting stance. She wore a simple, short-sleeved blue dress with a slit on one side that went up to midthigh, and her dark hair was up in a bun, held by chopsticks. I wondered what she was doing, fighting in the streets; she looked too delicate for it.

When I finished my observation, I raised an eyebrow at her. It had been maybe five minutes, and neither of us had made a move. Why the hell was she in my room?

"...Don't you recognize me at all?" she asked softly, sounding a little hurt.

At that moment, I knew who I was looking at, now that she was no longer speaking in that emotionless, commanding tone from when she was at the window.

"...It can't be..." I murmured, taking a small step forward.

"You _do _recognize me," she cooed, her mouth curving up a little at one corner; clearly she was pleased.

That half-smile...there it was! I knew it had to be her...but just to make sure, I slowly reached over and pulled off her mask.

"My gawd...Michiko?" I said, sounding both surprised and a bit sharp; she had shocked me.

"Mm-hm!" she nodded eagerly, leaning forward a little. A bit like she was looking for approval.

At first, I didn't say a word; all I could do was process that anti-social, childish little Michiko had a new-found career in crime fighting. It was such a ridiculous thought, that I resisted it for a moment or two.

But then the idea registered, and when it did, I got upset. Very upset.

"What the...what the hell are you doing here?!" I snapped, feeling a sudden surge of anger, and watching her tiny smile fade as I continued, my voice getting sharper and louder, "What...what are you doing here?! What the hell is with that outfit? Do you have any idea what time it is?! And you're...? Shit, does Kiba even know you're out here?!"_ It's close to midnight! What is she thinking? And she's a Masque? Is she insane?_

"I...no!" Michiko cringed, looking like I'd just slapped her, "He doesn't! I just...I thought that-"

"Thought that, what, that being a Masque was impressive? That it's cool to be out late, when there are dangerous people out there?! You're a Masque?! Do you have any ide...there are rapists and murderers in this city's streets, Michiko! Do you think those kinds of criminals as easy to deal with as the first-time robbers your little 'team' handled earlier today?!" _What the hell is she doing?! _

Nothing about that situation was making any sense to me!

"No! St-stop!" her voice was shaking as she yelled at me, but we both paid it no attention, "You don't understand...s-stop!

"You joined some team to guard the streets at night? What is this, some bid to get attention?!" I didn't even stop to listen to her, I couldn't stop yelling; all I could think at the time was, _What is wrong with her?!_ "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is, here in Konoha?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! What are you...are you even thinking?! Do you think crooks will go easy on you just because you're a girl?!"

"NO! Stop it! Just _stop_!" Michiko screeched, squeezing her eyes shut, "Shino, STOP!"

I turned my face away for a moment to catch my breath, disgusted with what was obviously a display of her poor judgment. Echoing over and over in my head were the same words, _Michiko is a Masque. She's going to get herself killed._

I heard her make some kind of frustrated sound as she let herself drop to her knees, and then she was silent, with her face turned to the side. With some regret, I remembered Kiba saying she was sensitive. And I had just held a screaming match with her...So, I decided to listen to her and refrained from yelling at her further. Instead, I just looked down at this silly, silly girl with her ridiculous costume and insane actions, waiting for her to speak.

Neither of us moved for a minute or two. I got a chance to think about how I had just reacted, and I began to wonder what was wrong with me. Since when did I react so abruptly, like that? I don't even yell at Kiba, and he is the most frustrating person I know. That was the second time I had acted up like that, and with a jolt I realized both times had to do with Michiko.

I figured she must be fed up with me, by now. She would probably go crying to Kiba about how mean I was to her, and how everything was my fault. I wondered if Kiba would side with Michiko or me.

"I'm sorry..." Michiko finally whispered, breaking the silence.

"...What?" I asked annoyedly, once again getting something unexpected. I didn't like being proven wrong like this so often.

"I'm sorry I came. I should have thought this through," she answered, standing up slowly, and turning away from me, toward the window, "I'm sorry; it's very late and you weren't expecting me."

_Damn straight!_ "It is late," I said in a deadpan, frowning at the back of her head, "Why are you here?"

"Well...I know your secret, you know?" she said softly; she looked like she was touching her face with her hands, "I just...I thought it would be fair...if you knew mine."

The pin dropped in my mind. Of course. She felt she owed me something, for discovering my secret identity, hence her dramatic visit. If I had been thinking, I would have understood that from the beginning.

...But I wasn't letting her off that easily.

"...This could not have waited until tomorrow?" I asked irritably, crossing my arms, "During the day, perhaps?"

"Team Masque only comes out at night," she explained gently, "And I wanted to let you know as soon as I could. I would have told you before, but my team wasn't active in Konoha, yet."

"Your team wasn't active? What does that mean?" Perfect. More surprises.

"Team Masque didn't just start yesterday. I've been fighting beside them for years," Michiko answered, and I realized I was wrong about her again; she wasn't as vulnerable as I thought she was, "This is just a branch of Team Masque. Is there anything else you wanted to know?"

It was at that moment that I understood just how insecure Michiko really was with people. All this time, she thought I was keeping score against her, since she knew I was a Protector; I supposed she took my unfriendliness as an attitude reserved specifically for her, not realizing that that was how I normally acted. This thought could have only reinforced her idea that I was against her, and so, she wanted to reveal to me her secret identity to even things out. However, she saw her visit had upset me, and was now being compliant and telling me everything I wanted to know, in order to smooth things over. She desperately wanted things to be fair between us, and possibly for me to change my attitude toward her, to the extent that she visited me in full costume, late at night, at the risk of being caught and her identity becoming common knowledge.

Idly, I wondered how she would fix things if she never had a secret identity to tell.

At the same time, I realized with further guilt that she thought I saw her as a burden, or an inconvenience.

"...No," I answered her question, stepping towards her, "No, you don't have to tell me anything more."

I think she nodded, but she was silent for a while, her back still to me.

"...Michiko?" I put a hand on her shoulder, and felt her tense up, as if bracing herself, "Michiko, I won't yell anymore," I said, but she still did not turn, "...Look at me."

"...I'm sorry," she whispered again, "I wouldn't have come if I'd known you'd be angry."

"Angry? No, I was not angry," I sighed, stepping in front of her, and holding her shoulders at the same time, so she couldn't turn, "I was just..."

Now that I could see her face, I saw her cheeks were tear stained; at that moment I realized her eyes had been getting shiny as we were yelling at one another.

"...surprised?" Michiko raised an eyebrow, not meeting my eyes; I wasn't sure if she was referring to my not knowing she was crying, or if she was finishing my sentence.

I felt my gut clench; I knew I'd made a mistake. She wasn't faking; she was truly hurt. She thought she could trust me, make things right with me, and I didn't realize it. Instead, I'd made her worse.

And I hated that defeated look on her face. I had to make things right.

Unfortunately, I knew exactly how to do it. And it was painful.

"...I'm...sorry..." I said haltingly, feeling like an idiot but still continuing, "I made you cry."

The girl finally met my eyes again; this time her gaze was questioning. She knew I never volunteered information. I knew I had to keep going, so I forced myself to continue.

"I'm...not good with people. I, uh...Konoha is dangerous. And I thought that you didn't know what you were doing," I muttered, refusing to look her in the eyes anymore, "I thought you might...get...hurt. ...So, I yelled."

At that point, I made myself look at Michiko to let her know I was sincere. She had this big-eyed, puppy look on her face. She was also still confused.

She was...cute...

"I'm sorry. We're even, all right?" I mumbled, letting go of her shoulders, "I made you cry, and you heard me embarrass myself. We're even."

At first, her confused look stayed where it was. I could understand how she felt; I was wondering what possessed me to get soft and...ugh. Open. But slowly, understanding lit up her eyes. She knew I was concerned for her.

"We're even?" she whispered, that little half-smile starting to show again, "You mean it?"

"Yes," I said roughly, shoving her mask back into her hands, "We're even. Now...go...home. Go away," I ended with a snap.

"That was hard for you to say," she said softly.

"Please, go home," I said, trying to control my tone to a normal level. I really wanted to just yell.

"You're feeling embarassed, so you're acting angry to defend yourself," she said, more to herself than me. I was starting to regret my words.

"It is time for you to go home," I said firmly, pointing to the window behind me, _Get away from me so I can act normally again, witch!_

But of course she didn't listen to me. Instead, she threw her arms around me. The idiotic, silly girl was hugging me.

"...Get off," I muttered when she didn't move for a moment, feeling uncomfortable; the last thing any girl ever did when they saw me was hug me. I was perfectly fine with girls not embracing me. In fact, I enjoyed the lack of hugging.

"We're even," she whispered, still ignoring me as she pulled back and put her mask on.

"Yes. We are even. Now get out of my house," I groaned, covering my eyes with one hand; I was so tired, suddenly.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Shino!" Michiko said happily, stepping around me to get to the window.

Michiko smiled at me, as she looked back with one foot on the window sill.

That girl...I wanted to be annoyed.

I wanted to feel annoyed, and yell at her, then she would leave me alone for the rest of her life.

...That would probably work, and with her gone I would stop overreacting to things that she does and stop being concerned about her ridiculous, neurotic feelings.

But then, I would never see that tiny half-smile of hers. And I'd never feel that warm feeling that came with it.

So instead, I was irritated to find myself smiling back.

* * *

Esperwen: WOW, that was a difficult chapter to write! It's hard to get into Gaara's head and make him passionate about something...this is Gaara, guys! He's the personification of a weapon! Weapons do not feel...they inflict...

And it's hard to write Shino expressing himself without making him completely out of character! He keeps all his emotions...he keeps _everything _inside; making him _talk _is a challenge within itself!

Ok, chapter is up. I am thoroughly exhausted. Review, peeps!


	6. This is war!

Esperwen- Sorry, guys! I haven't updated in a while...I wasn't even going to update, today, but I missed a bus and found that I had lots and lots of time on my hands. So, here is the newest chapter, and I hope you enjoy it!  


* * *

-_Chapter 6 ~ "This is war!"_

_(Deniizu)_

_(Somewhere in Konoha City)_

In case you forgot, my power is controlling the air. Temari called me "Deniizu the Wind Witch" for a while, until she shortened it to just "Windy". Her nicknames aren't very original (I mean, she calls Shikamaru "Cry baby" and Pooriin "Speedy"!), but at least they always make sense.

Anyway, I was glad when Pooriin wand Michiko agreed to make our own "Team Masque" in Konoha City. Shika and Temari were looking for new recruits in Oto City now, instead of fighting, so I figured we could do some good in another area to make up for it. At least someone was crime fighting somewhere, right?

And the wind in Konoha was _awesome_! All the buildings put so close together forced moving air to move in straight lines, and those made great currents to play with! And, because everyone other than me goes to work or school, the suburbs were basically empty during the day, making those neighbourhoods a great place for me to train.

We'd only been on the job for a weekend, but things were looking promising. The city seriously needed Team Masque; using the wind currents, I had already overheard three bank heists, six hold-ups, and you don't even wanna know how many muggings in the past month.

I just wished we didn't have any stupid wannabes tagging along after us. The last thing anybody needs is fans that are trying to be just like us. Here's what I mean:

_(Monday night)_

It was our third night at work. I left the underpass I lived in, feeling pretty good about things. I mean, come on: we'd stopped a bank robbery the night before! The warm, grey camo uniform I had on made me feel pretty damn good, too. Pooriin's oldest brother, Goudon, had gotten all of us Masques uniforms; he knows everything about Team Masque, since Pooriin tells him everything, and he was our sponsor. And I felt really good to be in uniform again, using the wind to help me jump across rooftops.

"Hey, Windy!"

I turned my masked face to the caller, grinning when she caught up to me. My best friend, Matter, was looking elegant in her long, blue dress and mask. She was moving elegantly, too, which was a huge improvement from what she used to be like before, back when she first started using her power.

Michiko can make her body as light and untouchable as air, or as heavy and solid as rock (it was hilarious how many names Temari went through until she came up with "Matter"!). The reason she could jump on rooftops, like me, was because she made her whole body as thin as air, except for her feet, so she could still jump. She couldn't control her body this well two and a half years ago. She was always too afraid she'd hurt somebody, or be called a freak if she were found out, so she never really used her power until a few months before Team Masque started. I can't say I was ever the same as her. I had always used my ability to keep warm, listen for muggers that might attack me, make a distraction so I could steal some food...y'know. Survival stuff.

"'Sup, Matter?" I grinned, as we both made our way to Team Masque's meeting place, "Good to see you would sneak out of your house."

"I...yeah..." Michiko adjusted her upper face mask a little, not looking at me.

I rolled my eyes. She didn't used to care about sneaking out at night, back in Oto, but I knew why she was so self-conscious about it now.

"Could you relax?" I grumbled, as both of us took a left turn, "You're not betraying the Inuzuka, alright? Pooriin likes her family, too, but she still sneaks out at night."

"She gets to tell Goudon about everything," Michiko argued, putting her hair up in a chopstick bun, "What if they check my room and I'm not there? Can't I at least tell Kiba where I'm going?"

"No way. Telling Kiba is way different than telling Goudon. Goudon's our sponsor," I pointed out, "And if Kiba knew about this, he'd never agree to letting you go out."

Michiko stayed quiet, knowing I was right. I hoped she'd stop trying to get permission to tell Kiba about how she was part of my team, but I knew she wouldn't stop until I said yes. Michiko was usually really nice, but it was only a matter of time before she lost her patience and snapped. I'd seen her do it a couple times before, and it wasn't pretty.

Our base soon came into view. Ordinary people can't make it to the roof of the big cathedral in the centre of Konoha City, but Team Masque isn't made of ordinary people. I took a huge leap and then made the wind form a funnel below me, pushing me up to the roof. Michiko jumped down to the street, and stood on a manhole that had a lot of steam flowing out of it; making herself as light as air, the steam floated her into the air.

I looked around the rooftop, searching for our third and final member but except for a few gargoyles, the cathedral roof was empty. What happened to Pooriin? She was usually the first to arrive, whenever we met up.

"...here she comes," Michiko said after a moment, pointing to the street west of us.

Speedy's the most acrobatic out of all of us. WE watched as she blurred towards a telephone pole, ran _up _the pole, sped across the cables when she got to the top, and when she was right beside the cathedra roof, she ended her tightrope act by making a neat sideways somersault, so she landed perfectly on the roof. It was _so _awesome. Michiko and I couldn't help but clap.

"Haha, thanks!" Pooriin laughed, bowing once, "Sorry, am I late?"

"Nah, I haven't heard any robber plans yet," I answered, shrugging, "City's kinda quiet tonight."

"They're probably being careful because Team Masque's gone public," Pooriin smiled, "Which is completely different than when the Protection was in charge, or whatever that group was called."

"Be nice..." Michiko said gently, "The City probably calmed down a little when the Protectors first started, too. Criminals always do that; they stop for a little while when a new threat appears, but after a few days they need to get their business up again, and they start breaking rules just as often as ever. Give Konoha a week; we'll be swamped in jobs soon enough."

"Good thing, too," I poked Michiko in the stomach to get her attention, "I'd get bored if there were no bad guys to put into their place, around here."

"Deniizu..."

"So we'll just patrol around all night, then?" Pooriin asked, bringing us back to business. She was making a face, and I couldn't blame her; we both thought wandering around the city was a waste of time and energy. Michiko might be ok with rookie work, but Pooriin and I liked doing bigger jobs to take down more people.

"Pretty much," I nodded, trying not to grimace; patrolling sucked, "Oh well. Like Michiko said; give it another week and we'll have some fun."

We got ready to go our separate ways; all of us headed to the edge of the cathedral roof, and looked down to aim at something to jump at. Michiko got to the edge first; both Pooriin and I saw her freeze.

"What's wrong?" I asked, exchanging looks with Pooriin.

Michiko didn't answer at first; she just turned around and led us by the arms back to the centre of the roof. Then she touched our masks, making sure they were on securely before saying, "Get ready. The other team is coming."

"The hell?" I exclaimed, narrowing my eyes.

Pooriin ran to the edge, looked down, then blurred back to us and nodded at me.

"There are three guys on the ground," Pooriin said with a frown, "They're getting ready to come up here."

She sounded almost like she was remembering something. I raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know that I knew something was up, but she didn't explain anything. I made a mental note to ask her what is was, later. Michiko stepped to the other side of me, so that I was between my teammates, and together, we waited for our visitors to come.

For maybe half a minute, nothing happened. Then I heard a popping sound, and a cloud of smoke appeared beside Pooriin on our left; all three of us jumped, when we heard the noise, then we all couldn't help but stare when a boy about our age stepped out of the smoke. He was wearing a black sweater with a hood pulled up, what looked like black night vision goggles, and a black handkerchief was tied over the lower part of his face like a mask. And on that mask was the swirly leaf symbol that I saw everywhere in Konoha; it was the city's mark. I wasn't sure if I could say he looked weird or cool.

But it bothered me that I didn't know how he got beside us like that; he had been on the ground only a moment before, hadn't he? I looked seriously at Pooriin, mentally asking her if she saw him move, but she shook her head slightly. Damn. If Pooriin never saw him move, he must be crazy fast. And where did the popping sound and smoke from?

Then Michiko stifled a gasp and Pooriin's eyes widened. Suddenly, a second boy landed on his feet just a few feet to my right; Pooriin told me later that he had _jumped_, all the way from the ground. This guy showed his face, just wearing dark jeans and a turtleneck against the cold. He had dark hair, hazel eyes, and sharp features...he would've been kind of cute, if he hadn't been frowning at us like that.

"Team Masque, I presume," a boy's voice said from behind me; I knew it was the third guy even before I turned.

When I looked back, I saw a school boy with brownish-red hair and dark make-up masking his eyes. He was sitting on a cloud of sand, floating so that he was eye-level with me. If I hadn't been on duty right then, I might have been impressed, but at that moment, this sand-floating guy and his friends were taking up my time; the city wasn't going to rescue itself!

"That's us," I answered, glaring at the intruders, "Who the hell are you?"

The guy in goggles growled a little when I said that, but when the guy on the sand raised a hand, Goggles calmed down.

"We are the Protectors," Sand-guy answered, "Konoha is our city, and we watch over it."

"Are you serious?" I had to laugh at that, "You actually thing you're helping this city? Because if so, you sure are doing a crappy job!"

This time, Goggles did more than just growl. Suddenly, there was another puff of smoke, and he was in front of me; his hand was at my throat before I could even blink.

"T!" the guy that had jumped said sharply, his eyebrows going even further down, somehow, "What are you thinking? That's not what we're here for!"

T (if that was his name...weird) glared at his friend for a moment, then let me go; with another poof he stood by Pooriin again. It was like they were guarding us; T on Pooriin, that other guy on Michiko, and their leader on me.

"I apologize for my teammate," the red-haired boy in front of me said smoothly, bowing his head a little to me, "He is a bit impulsive."

"I bit..." I scoffed, just keep your dog in line. Why're you here?" I asked, ignoring the snarl behind me.

"I have come to make a proposition to you, Team Masque member."

"Oh?" I raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"We, that is, the Protectors, have observed your past exploits in the last few days," the guy explained, "We would be most pleased if you would join our team."

He looked so confident when he said that. Kind of like he thought he was giving us some big honour. I tried not to laugh.

"As if!" I scoffed, making a dismissing motion with one hand, "Why would we join you? Your team's barely doing anything to take care of this city! Seriously, you should be asking to join _us_!"

"Come again?" the boy hissed, getting off of his sand cloud and stepping toward me.

"Sand, let me handle this," the pretty-boy said, moving forward.

"I'll be fine, Insect, I can handle my _own _conversations," Sand snapped, clenching his fists.

That told me two things: (1) Insect was used to doing all the talking, and (2) like us, they chose code names that had something to do with their abilities. If "sand" was because he could control sand, I guessed that "T" was short for "Transporter" or "Teleporter," because only instantaneous movement could ever beat Pooriin in a race. But what the hell was "Insect" supposed to mean?

"I'm saying that your team sucks ass," I said, repeating myself for Sand's benefit, "And we don't like it. So go away."

"You think you're so..." I heard a growl, and it took me a moment to realize it was T. But before he could speak any further, Insect ran beside him and clapped a hand over his mouth. I used the wind to hear him whisper, "Enough. Do you not remember? Your voice could be recognized!"

So _that _was why they kept him quiet. They realized that their identities could be discovered simply by having their voices identified. That was one reason why Shika had arranged for Team Masque members had special training to dull down our voices' emotions and making our voice pitches and tones more generic.

"Windy, why _can't_ we work with them?"

I had to roll my eyes at Michiko.

"We've always wanted a large group," she argued, "Safety and strength in numbers, right? We've just needed to find new people. Well, here they are."

"You have to admit, though," Pooriin cut in, "We wanted _good _people."

I heard a pop and looked quickly in Pooriin's direction; T had teleported so that he was right within arms length of Pooriin. This time, instead of standing still, when she heard the pop, Pooriin took two superfast steps backwards. When T reappeared, Pooriin pushed him from behind.

"I get it. You don't like us either," Pooriin said annoyedly, tired of his parlour trick, "_Stop doing that._"

"You're on our territory," T growled. Even if I had met him before, I probably wouldn't have recognized his voice. He sounded so rough, kind of like an animal speaking, "You should stop what you're doing and get out of Konoha!"

"It's _our _city now," I shot back, tired of trying to reason with them, "We got here, and we're going a _much _better job than you guys ever could, so this hero job is _ours_."

"Windy, Speedy, guys, hang on-"

"You're doing a 'better' job?!" Sand exclaimed, looking all stupid with his eye makeup, "You've fixed up _one_ bank!"

"But the city loves us! Haven't you seen the papers?" I gloated, "Team Masque is everywhere!"

"And the city's happiness is what really matters," Pooriin added, smiling, "If the city is happy, it's hopeful, and soon the whole city will be trying to improve! What have you guys done for Konoha's morale?"

"Sand, they have a po-"

"Not now, Insect!" Sand ordered, then he glared at me, "If you think it's all about fame and glory, you're wrong! The city needs dedicated people protecting the weaker ones, whether or not the press is around to see it!"

"But our goals are the same, right? A safer city?" Michiko was still trying.

"I'm sure," T laughed, "looking down on Michiko, "If there weren't any cameras around, you guys wouldn't be so helpful to Konoha!"

I hate when people talk down my friends! And those bastards had no idea who hard we worked back in Oto, when even the freakin' police hated us!

"Get out of here. ...Get out!" I yelled, shoving all three of them with a good gust of wind; it felt good to see them stumble backwards like that, heading towards the roof edge, "Screw joining together! Screw all of you!" Only I didn't say 'screw'. "We'll never work together! Just you wait...! You'll see how much better we are than you!"

"What is that? A challenge?!" Sand yelled back, catching his teammates with his sand so they all ended up on a sandy cloud together, "You think your little cheerleading squad can hold anything to us, Konoha's mighty Protectors?!"

"I don't think so! I know!" I bellowed, so pissed off that I didn't know until after that I had been making the wind howl around us, "We're taking better care of Konoha than you ever could!"

"We'll see!" Sand called back, still not taking me seriously, "You'll come crawling back to me, begging to join the Protectors when you realize what a farce your team is!"

"Never underestimate Team Masque!" I shrieked, sending a small tornado their way, "Get..._Out!!_"

I frowned when Sand managed to dodge the wind funnel and float away; it wasn't that I wanted him _hurt_...I'd just expected a fight.

"This is war, Windy!" the boy yelled over his shoulder; I showed him a certain hand gesture that none of his team appreciated.

But still, they left. Sand floated, T teleported away, and Insect looked back once before jumping away (I still didn't understand his code name...he could jump like 20 metres at a time, but what did that have to do with insects?) And they were gone.

"...So they were serious," I thought out loud.

"What do you mean, 'serious'?!" Pooriin exclaimed, her brown eyes widening.

"Did you not mean what you said?!" Michiko added, gaping at me, "About not joining them?!"

"Or were you playing hard to get?" Pooriin finished, frowning darkly at me.

"No, I was serious about not joining," I frowned back as I explained, "I just thought they'd try harder to recruit us."

"...Did you _want_ them to try harder?" Michiko asked, looking puzzled, "You _wanted _to join them?"

"Hell no!"

"I'm...I don't get it," Pooriin said confusedly, "Then why do you care?"

"Well...either they think we really suck and aren't worth their time," I grinned when Pooriin pouted when I said that; Team Masque was like her family, and she was almost as loyal to the team as I was, "Or they didn't actually _want _us to join. I mean...when we asked Temari and Shika to join us, we didn't stop until they said yes. Maybe they were just sizing us up."

"So, they're really our enemies, huh?" Michiko said, kinda sadly.

I figured that was her usual, "be good/don't make a fuss, pacifistic side" talking. She liked it when people liked her, and I guess that included the Protectors.

"...A war will start," Pooriin said suddenly, when all of us paused to think about the Protectors' visit.

"Yeah, that was what Sand said," I nodded, looking at her funny.

But Pooriin looked at us, her eyes wide, and I stopped talking. She looked sort of...surprised, scared, and...a little excited at the same time.

"What is it, Rini?" Michiko asked, a curious expression on her face.

"She said that a war..." Pooriin's voice trailed off, then she grinned, "I'll tell you guys and school tomorrow!"

And with that, she ran off, leaving us on the roof to wonder what the hell she was talking about.

* * *

Esperwen- You know the drill! Review! I'll send you internet goodies if you do! And I have to run, now...I got a paper due...


	7. Future and Past

_-Chapter 7 ~ Future and Past_

_(Pooriin Chatora)_

_(Tuesday, KC High)_

Chemistry class can be such a drag...

Wow, did I just call it "a drag?" I have to smile a that; that's one of Shikamaru's favourite sayings, right after "troublesome." I miss that guy...

But yeah; I tried to pay attention to my Chemistry teacher, but it wasn't that easy. For one thing, Miss- I mean..._Mr. _Deidara wasn't even that interested in what she-_he!_ What _he _was saying! (Oh, my _goodness_, _why _is his hair so long and pretty? He's so weird! And, word around the school is that Mr. Deidara wanted to be the Visual Arts teacher of KC High, but Mr. Sasori got the job instead; that's why he's so uninterested in his current job.)

I heard from Ino Yamanaka that Mr. Deidara perks up on days when we do labs and he explodes things. But today was all about halogens, the most unreactive gases. Halogens hardly ever do anything, let alone explode. So, Mr. Deidara was all boring during his lecture.

But it was also kinda hard to listen, because I really, _really_ wanted Chem to be over. See, Chem is right before _lunch_. And I had to introduce to Deniizu and Michiko someone who was really, really cool. I didn't know her very well, since I'd only spoken to her a handful of times, but I knew that my friends had to meet her.

After what felt like _forever,_ the lunch bell rang, waking up at least half of the class.

_Finally,_ I thought, shoving my binders into my book bag. I then hurried out of the room and grabbed one of my classmates by the arm as she stepped into the hallway.

"You ready to go?" I asked, grinning at her.

"I, um...I brought my lunch..." she nodded, looking down and to the side as she spoke.

I started walking her down the hall, eager to get to the caf, then stopped and looked at her again when I thought of something.

"...Are _you _ready to go?"

The 15-year-old I was talking to looked up at me nervously, then her gaze slid down to the side.

"I'll take that as a...'maybe'?" I said slowly, when she didn't answer.

"What if they...they don't...l-like me?" she stammered, playing with her fingers.

"Hinata, come on," I smiled, giving her a one-armed hug, "Trust me, they'll love you!"

I led Hinata into the caf, hoping that my confidence would rub off onto her. Hinata Hyuuga is cute to look at, but her shyness makes her _adorable._ She's got this big, pale lavender eyes, ivory skin, blue-black, long hair, and she's so quiet and shy. I didn't know her that well; I mean, I've only spoken to her like 3 times, but I like her a lot. She kind of reminds me of the old Michiko...almost too shy to talk, but if she needs to make a point, she'll do it.

When Hinata and I got to the table that my friends and I usually sat at, it was empty. I didn't think much of it, but this seemed to worry Hinata.

"A-are they not coming?" she asked, giving me an anguished look.

I didn't sigh or roll my eyes at her. I wanted to, but that probably would've made matters worse for her. Instead, I sat down and pulled out the lunch my cook had packed for me that morning. (...I know I can afford cafeteria food, but I don't like it. It's always really oily and too hot or too cold and...ugh.)

"They'll come," I said firmly, making myself comfortable at the lunch table, then giving Hinata a look, "It's your choice. You can stay or you can back out now."

She played with her fingers for a minute or two, probably having an internal conversation with herself. It took longer than I expected, but in the end, Hinata sat down across the table from me.

"I want to help," she whispered, so quietly that I guessed she didn't mean to say it out loud. I pretended that I didn't hear anything.

We ate without talking for a while. I was just going to tell Hinata how yummy Cook's chicken sandwiches were, when I heard three familiar voices.

The first one: "You have no business talking to her! Sit at my table!"

I recognized right away that that was Inuzuka, Michiko's foster brother, trying to keep Michiko away from me. He was really mean, trying to make Michiko believe my father was responsible for how poor his family was now. By the way, that is _so_ not true; my dad is the sweetest, most generous guy ever, and Michiko knows that. I'm _glad _Inuzuka's avoiding me, because I _really _hate how he badmouths my dad.

The second voice: "Kiba, _please _stop? She's not what you think!" that was Michiko, always the peacemaker. She says that Inuzuka and his familiy are the sweetest, most generous people ever, but I can't see it. All Inuzuka ever does is cut me looks. What's sweet about that?

"I'm telling you, Michiko, she's no good!" See what I mean? Zero sweetness!

And then I felt a hand tap my shoulder, and heard the third voice: "Hey, Pooriin. What's up?"

"Not much; the usual," I answered, smiling up at Deniizu.

We don't always get along, Deniizu and I; I mean, I think she's too impulsive sometimes, the way she's always pulling Team Masque into tight places, and she thinks I worry too much. But she's one of my closest friends anyway; we've gotten through a lot of tough times with each other. It's amazing how getting into so many near-death situations can bring people together! I'd choose her over a Protector or the Inuzuka at the other side of the room any day.

"Who's this?" Deniizu asked, nodding to the girl sitting across from me.

"U-um...I'm-" the girl in question stood up quickly and extended her hand to Deniizu, "I'm H-hinata. ...Um, Hinata Hyuuga!"

"Hey, Hinata; I'm Deniizu," my green-eyed friend smiled, shaking Hinata's hand, "Nice to meet you." Deniizu sat down beside me, examined Hinata for a moment, then said to me, "Y'know, she's kinda like-"

"The old Michiko, right?" I finished for her, grinning.

"Exactly."

"What?!"

I turned around to glare at Inuzuka. He was the one who had yelled, of course (I mean, who else in this school is that rude?). At that moment, he was pointing at Hinata, his mouth hanging open.

"What, what...so now she's got her claws into Hinata?!" Inuzuka exclaimed, asking Michiko as he waved his arms around.

"Kiba, calm down..." Michiko pleaded, grabbing one of his arms just before he hit someone who was walking by.

"Who's she gonna take next?! Shino?!" Inuzuka yelled, yanking his arm away from Michiko.

"As if..." Michiko stopped talking and gave him a level look before wondering, "Wait..."

She said something else that was too low for us to hear, but Deniizu quickly used a few air currents so that the three of us could hear what was said across the room, "...jump from talking about Hinata to talking about your best friend?"

Inuzuka kept staring at her with his jaw on the floor for a moment before composing himself and grumbling, "No...no reason."

"Uh-huh," Michiko rolled her eyes.

"I said that for no reason!" Kiba snarled, "I...you...I just...just..." His voice trailed off.

"...I get the idea. It's your life, and you'll tell me when you're ready," Michiko said gently, waving the issue away, then raised an eyebrow at Inuzuka, "And you'll tell me about the same time you explain to me why you hate Pooriin and the whole Chatora family so much, right, bro?"

"...Hmph," Inuzuka only grunted as he nodded to her, keeping his eyes trained to the floor. Seriously. He is so rude. I don't know why Michiko likes him so much.

I saw a guy in a big, hooded coat join the two of them at that moment. I recognized that it was Shino, the guy who always walked Michiko home now, on Inuzuka's orders. I heard from Deniizu that he used to bully Michiko during the first month of school or so, but they seemed to be friends now.

"Take care of him?" Michiko half-smiled at Shino, "Feed him a hamburger or something? He's cranky today."

"Who's taking care of who, now?" Inuzuka snapped.

Instead of answering, Michiko looked at Shino for support. The tall boy only shrugged and held up what looked like a wrapped, round sandwich. It was a hamburger. Michiko laughed out loud; Deniizu, Hinata, and even I couldn't help but grin. Michiko already knew Inuzuka about as well as his best friend did.

"I'll see you later, ok, bro?" Michiko smiled, lightly punching Inuzuka in the arm as he snatched the burger away from Shino.

"Get out of my face," he grumbled for an answer, swatting her hand away.

Six months ago, Michiko would have burst into tears and run into Deniizu's arms if one of her foster brothers had treated her like that. Instead, she smiled wider and cheerfully floated over to our table. She was seriously happy. I gave Deniizu an annoyed look, but she only shrugged.

"Let her be happy," Deniizu whispered to me, barely moving her lips and using a small wind current so that I was the only one who could hear her, "She says he basically spoils her when they're at home. Maybe you're wrong about him."

"Hi, guys!" Michiko gave us a small wave when she reached us before sitting down beside our new friend, "Oh...Hinata! Um...we're in the same Gym and Math class, right?"

"R-right. Your name is...M-michiko, right?"

I was only half listening to the two of them. I watched Inuzuka move with Shino across the room to where they usually sat. Was he really such a nice guy? Michiko never lied about how nice her foster families were; ever since that first incident, she always told Team Masque if she was being threatened or hurt, so that we could find a way to get her out. So, if she said Inuzuka was nice, he had to be nice, right?

I watched as Inuzuka sat down at his usual table. He looked at the hamburger for a second, just frowning at it. And then...slowly...he smiled. He had this wolfish, kinda carefree smile...I hated to admit it, but he looked _good_ when he smiled.

Of course, just when I had that thought, he caught me looking at him.

"What, Chatora?!" he snapped, glaring at me. I couldn't hear him, because he was across the lunch room, but I knew that's what he said.

"Oh, whatever!" I groaned, turning back to the people I was sitting with.

_He isn't sweet at all! _I thought angrily, tearing the lid off of a cup of pudding,_ "_He's a selfish jerk!"

"He's not that bad!" Michiko said, looking at me with a hurt expression on her face.

...It took me a moment to realize I'd said, "Selfish jerk," out loud. I mumbled an apology to Michiko.

"Um...excuse me?" Hinata said softly, raising a hand.

Deniizu glanced around the room, checking to make sure nobody was listening in on us, before raising an eyebrow at Hinata.

"You don't have to raise your hand," Deniizu grinned, pulling Hinata's hand down, "What's up?"

"Are, um..." Hinata looked down to the side and played with her fingers; I noticed that she did that a lot, "Are you...You know..T-team...the team-"

"We're Team Masque," Deniizu nodded seriously, finishing Hinata's sentence for her.

"Oh. Good," Hinata smiled a little, "I've been lookoing for you. All of you. For a long time."

"Is something wrong?" Michiko asked, alarmed, "Do you need our help?"

"N-no," Hinata answered, a little surprised at how fast Michiko reacted.

"Don't mind Michiko," I said calmly, "She's a spaz; she overreacts a lot. You get used to it."

"Oh, gee. Thanks for making me look good and sane," Michiko rolled her eyes at me.

"Wait a minute," Deniizu interrupted, "What do you mean 'a long time'? We've only been working here for three days."

"I've um...I've seen you work. In the other city. E-ever since you started, three y-years ago."

"You've seen us?" Deniizu looked doubtful, "How? Nobody in Oto was allowed to even talk about us. Not the press, or the public. It was like the law."

"A recording of one of our fights showed up on the internet, once," Michiko added morosely, "A crime lord put a stop to that, and after, nobody dared to even watch us fight while we rescued them."

"Well, I...I d-didn't use the internet," Hinata answered, playing with her fingers again, and staring at the table, "But...but I do know almost everything about T-Team Masque. Um...Y-your leader was the only boy, and...and he made shadows come to life. And your other teammate, sh-she can change how, um, how gravity affects the things she touches, so she can fly, or weigh stuff down..." Hinata's voice trailed off.

"...Whoa."

Deniizu and Michiko shared looks before turning to me.

"How...?" Michiko glanced between Hinata and I, then raised her hands with her palms up, giving me a confused look.

"I didn't tell her anything," I shrugged, "Everything, she already knew. She came to me last week, after class, telling me that I had to introduce her to you guys. I didn't want to, for obvious reasons, even when she said she was a friend, and then she said, 'You don't believe me now, but remember: A war is going to start.' And then she left."

"Should we be worried, right now?" Deniizu looked at Hinata, who was still not meeting anyone's gaze, "How do you know all this?"

We all watched Hinata take a deep breath before looking Deniizu in the eye, "You don't have to be worried; I said I was a friend, and I am. I...I'll explain to you how I learned about Team Masque, b-but...I need you to promise me one thing, before I do."

First, Deniizu looked at me. She wasn't sure about how reliable this stammering girl was. But Deniizu was also curious. I nodded, urging Deniizu to give Hinata a shot; she had been right about the Protectors' declaration of war, and I knew her power was really impressive. Not to mention that most people mistook Temari's ability for plain old flight; for better, or for worse, Hinata knew us all very well, and I didn't think it was wise to just turn her down. And when Deniizu looked at Michiko, I was relieved to see Michiko smile. Michiko trusted Hinata, which was always a good sign; after being around so many bad people, Michiko could always tell if someone's intentions were good.

"...what do you want?" Deniizu asked, finally fixing her gaze back on Hinata.

"I..." Hinata swallowed, then spoke again, "I want to join Team Masque."

I already knew that that was what Hinata wanted all along; the first thing Hinata said to me, was something like, "I know who you are. I want to join you; let me meet the rest of your team." So, I wasn't surprised. But Michiko dropped her sandwich, and Deniizu froze, her mouth pressed tightly into a thin line.

"...Come again?" Deniizu asked after a second, cocking an eyebrow.

"Promise me you'll let me join you," Hinata blurted, leaning forward with a pleading expression on her face.

"Do you even know what you're...! It's dangerous, what we do!" Michiko hissed, almost yelling, but somehow remembering to keep her voice at a whisper, "Deniizu, say no."

But when we all looked at Deniizu, she didn't look surprised anymore. She looked like she was weighing Hinata, calculating her odds.

"...You're...You're not seriously thinking of...!" Michiko gasped, pointing at Deniizu, "You are!"

"Hinata, how did you know about us?" Deniizu asked, once again calm and business-like.

I looked at Michiko, our group's 'mother'. She was always the one who tried to keep Team Masque out of the most danger, when she knew we could avoid it. And from the reproachful looks she was giving Deniizu and I, she thought Hinata was risking too much.

"Am...am I in?" Hinata asked first.

"I can't promise you that," Deniizu said, shaking her head, and then added while looking at Michiko, "If you have no useful ability, you would only slow us down. Not to mention you would be endangering yourself. If you _do _have a useful ability, it would only be fair to let you join us."

"...that's...fine," Michiko pouted, examining her half-eaten sandwich to avoid Deniizu's eyes.

"Ok," Hinata nodded, then looked down again and whispered, "Well, um...I can...I can _see _things."

"...See what?" I prompted, when she paused for a moment. Already, I could see Michiko shaking her head.

"Can you...can you see dead people?" Deniizu joked, earning a glare from Michiko. Even I couldn't help rolling my eyes.

"No, um...I see things like...people who are far away... Like, I'll be in my living room, and then I'll see my cousin walking home from the gym," Hinata explained, "And sometimes I see, um...I'll see a glimpse, like...a split second of the f-future."

"The future?" Michiko asked, suddenly interested, "What do you mean?"

Of course, that day after Sand declared war on us, I called Hinata right up and she'd explained everything to me. But I liked hearing it again. Her ability was seriously cool.

"I, well..." Hinata played with her fingers as she spoke, "It's like I can see through walls, but over very, very far distances. And...I can only recognize people if I'm, um, looking for them, specifically, or if they're turned towards me and I see their faces. I didn't know who you three were, because I only ever saw you while you were fighting, and you wore masks. But, I knew who Pooriin was, because I saw her take off her mask for a moment, during your first bank robbery here, and I recognized her from most of my classes."

"You took off your mask?!" Deniizu exclaimed, giving me a dirty look.

"I was sweating! I was getting pimples under there..." I defended, frowning back at her, "It was only for a second! I was around the corner, out of sight."

"What about the future, Hinata?" Michiko asked, ignoring Deniizu and I as we glared at each other, "How do you see that?"

"Well...I only see glimpses. L-like...like a picture, in my head."

"Can you control it?" Deniizu asked, forgetting our little staring contest.

"J-just the long-distanced seeing," Hinata answered, shaking her head, "I can't really control the visions. And the future I see is usually only a few days away."

"Oh, that reminds me!" I piped up, looking between Deniizu and Michiko hopefully, "I've already thought of a name for her. We can call her 'Vision'!" I waved my fingers dramatically, "It works, because it's about how she can see things, but it also makes her sound pretty."

"That's a good name," Deniizu agreed. I was glad; I'd spent a lot of time thinking up that name.

"But..." Michiko looked at Hinata, "But when we fight, you'll have to stay behind."

"No, no, I should be with you! When you...when you fight!" Hinata insisted, "I won't get in your way!"

"But why? You don't need to be with us; you can stay far away," Michiko said, and Deniizu and I could just hear the, "Where it's safe," that we knew she wanted to add.

"I...When I'm looking at someone, sometimes I have a vision about them. S-so, if you're in a trap, or...or if the enemy will do something drastic...I might see it."

"Can't you see visions if you're watching them by camera?" Michiko asked.

"It's never...no, it doesn't work like that," Hinata said, "I have to be there. In person."

"But how're you gonna protect yourself?" Michiko insisted.

"_You'll_ protect her," Deniizu answered, shrugging, "Guarding bystanders is your specialty."

"I'm not _that_ good," Michiko frowned, "More often than not, someone gets hurt no matter how hard I try. And what if you need me to fight? Or stop a car?"

"I can...there's one other thing..."

We looked back at Hinata, who had spoken. There was more? I only knew about her vision powers.

As we watched her, Hinata put a fork in the palm of her hand, and put her hand out on the table. She glanced around the room, making sure it was safe, then turned our attention back to the fork. Suddenly, the fork flew out of her hand, straight up into the air. It almost touched the caf's ceiling before falling back down to the lunch table, where she caught it.

"...Wow," Deniizu said, when all of us did nothing but stare at the fork for a minute or two.

"You didn't mention..._that_," I said, just as surprised as my friends.

"I can send out a pulse, which sends energy into items, pushing them away. It only works with things my hands touch," Hinata said quietly, while Michiko tentatively poked the fork, "But it's something. I can protect myself."

"That's true," Deniizu looked at Michiko, "She can fight."

"Against people within arms length, sure, but it's not like she's bullet proof!" Michiko exclaimed, turning to Hinata, "Why do you want in so badly? Hinata, it's dangerous! Deniizu's our strongest, and she's almost died! More than once! And that was with normal gangsters; all they had were guns! The Protectors hate us, and they have powers. They might attack us! What if you get hurt?"

"It's not about getting hurt!" Hinata cried, hitting a fist onto the lunch table, "I...you...when I first found my powers...!"

She clapped a hand over her mouth, shocked that she'd been so forceful, I guess, and then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before starting again.

"I was 13. I thought I was a freak, with my special sight. I...I wanted to find people who were like me. Who were different, like me. And...and I Saw you guys, rescuing people from a house fire. I still remember: it was a townhouse, and it was snowing."

"...That was one of our first jobs," I realized.

"You made your abilities so...good. So beautiful. You weren't freaks; you were the wonderful Team Masque," Hinata smiled at us, "I...I wanted to join you guys, ever since then. I just haven't been able to find you, to talk to you. Until...until now."

"If you wanted to use your powers so badly," Deniizu said, crossing her arms, "Why didn't you ever join the Protectors?"

"They...they're all boys," Hinat blushed, slouching a little, "And...they aren't you guys. They're not Team Masque."

Michiko put her food down when she heard that. The thing is, our leader, Shikamaru, was once asked in private by Oto's mayor to help lead a faction of the police. He could've been paid for what he was already doing with us, instead of having to fight for free. But he turned the job down.

Why? Because, as Shika once said, "I can't join the cops. They aren't Team Masque."

"...Please," Hinata said, pleading again, "I can do this. Let me help."

And I knew at that moment that Hinata had won Michiko over. Wanting to help had always been Michiko's motivation, right from the start.

There was a hushed silence, with the caf buzzing around us, as Michiko stared down at her food, thinking. Finally, she nodded once, then half-smiled apologetically at Hinata.

"So long as you stay behind me at all times," she said quietly, "And if you train under Deniizu diligently, you can join."

"I will," Hinata nodded eagerly, taking Michiko's hands into her own, "Thank you! Thank you so much!

"Welcome to the team," Deniizu grinned, "You'd better not cry during my training sessions."

"Deniizu, don't scare her!" I laughed, hitting my friend lightly on the arm, but then got straight down to business, "So, I was thinking Vision would look great in a faded, lavender-coloured costume. But something loose, and comfortable, so that she can move quickly, and maybe a full-faced mask, because her skin is pretty pale; she might be recognized. Y'know what; I'd better give my brother Goudon a call..."

~*~

_(Kiba Inuzuka)_

_(Wednesday afternoon, after school)  
_

Shino wasn't always my best friend. I mean, our parents were friends (my dad and his dad were both businessmen, so they met at social conventions, or something), so we've known each other forever. But it wasn't until the Protectors got together that Shino and I actually started hanging out. And I mean, let's face it: other than the Protectors, we have almost nothing in common.

Until about a year ago, I used to be really close to a guy who lived just two houses down from me. He's kind of an idiot, and he's got this problem with getting into fights a lot at school, but Naruto's a good guy. It was fun hanging out with him; a lot of the time, I kinda missed goofing off with him. Kankurou reminded me a lot of Naruto, actually; I think that's part of the reason why we got along so well.

Bleh; enough of that mushy stuff...anyway, the day after Team Masque stupidly turned us down, I paid Naruto a visit. His mom, Kushina, answered the door; she was a little surprised to see me, but she let me in and told me that yes, Naruto was in.

"You can head up to his room; he's there," she said, smiling at me, "I'll bring up some snacks in a moment."

"That'd be great," I smiled, scratching the back of my neck; I'm not gonna lie, was starving. I forgot my wallet at home, and Michiko was eating with her stupid friends, so nobody was willing to pay for my food, and I had to skip lunch.

Kushina turned around to go into the kitchen, but came back at the last moment.

"Oh, Kiba, before you go," she raised her eyebrows at me, "How is Michiko doing?"

I wondered why she cared, then remembered that she was Michiko's social worker.

"Um...we're not beating her or anything..." ...Ok, not the smartest thing to say, but that was the first answer that popped into my head.

"Oh, of course not!" I was kinda relieved Kushina laughed off what I said, "I know how much your mother wanted more children. And I know how much Michiko needed a place that wanted her. I thought the two of you would be a good match."

"Well...yeah...'k..." I shrugged. On the inside, I was thinking, _Hell, yeah! We freakin' love her! Thank you, so much!_ But I didn't say any of that out loud. That would not be cool.

"In case I don't see you leave, tell her I said 'hi'!"

"No problem, Mrs. Uzumaki," I nodded, before heading towards the stairs.

...It felt so familiar, walking up the same, worn-out stairs that had been there since I could walk. It really had been too long since I'd been over.

Out of habit, I didn't bother knocking on Naruto's door; I just sort of walked in. He was playing some video game; I guess the door opening distracted him, because suddenly he swore, dropping the game controller.

"Dammit, Mom, you killed me!" Naruto yelled, turning to the door, and then his eyes widened when he saw me, "What the...Kiba?"

"Yo, Naruto," I grinned, as he got up.

"Where the hell have you been? Told me you had some job to do, and then you disappeared for, what is it now...a year?"

I cringed a little, knowing this was coming. I wasn't sure if Naruto would be mad at me, or if he'd forgive me for being gone for so long. I decided to play it cool.

"Dude, I'm in the same History class as you. I never left! Idiot."

A couple jokes about me not being around (which was true) and him being dumb (also true) and suddenly, it was like we were always hanging out. We slapped hi-fives, played a couple rounds in the new fighting game he had, complained about our History teacher, Mr. Sarutobi, and his stupid analogies that always seemed to have to do with chess... (Gimmie a break, Asuma! Nobody plays chess, anymore!) ...it was just like old times. Not a lot seemed to have changed in Naruto's life, though.

"So, I got to talk to Sakura, today," Naruto said, during another video game battle that I was owning him in.

"Oh, yeah? What happened?" I asked, knowing Naruto's had a thing for Sakura Haruno since middle school.

"I asked her out."

"Pssh. About time."

"She told me to go to hell."

I barked a laugh.

"Yeah, well, she's kind of been dating Sasuke since last summer," I laughed, letting Naruto punch my shoulder.

"Sure, now you tell me," Naruto grumbled, "Saskura actually punched me hard enough to knock me out for a few minutes. She's got a mean left hook."

"I would've warned you, but..." my voice trailed off. We both knew the end of that sentence: "But I haven't been around."

"...Seriously, man, what's up with you?" Naruto asked, putting down his controller (by the way, I won again), "Where have you been?"

"I told you...I had to work-"

"Don't screw with me, man," Naruto warned me, giving me a look, "Whaddaya want? I know you. You've been wanting to ask me something since you got here."

"Well..." I scratched the back of my head, "Gaara wanted me to talk to you."

"Wha...Gaara Suna? The creepy guy who stares at people?"

"He is the only Gaara I hang out with," I couldn't help saying sarcastically.

"See, that's another thing. I'm not stupid; I know you didn't have work, Kiba. You were hanging out with other people. Sure, I'm the school outcast; you probably didn't wanna be seen with me-"

"Hey, man, it was never like that!" I started, shocked, but Naruto kept going.

"...But why the hell would you hang out with Shino, and Gaara, the creepiest guys in school?! Come on, Kiba! Kankurou, I kinda got, but the other guys? Not so much."

Naruto and I stared each other, for a sec. He was angry, but he was hurt. And he had every right to be.

"I get it. I've been an ass to you," I muttered, grabbing my backpack and rooting through it, looking for something.

"Damn straight, Kiba! Who the hell ditches their best friend for creeps?" Naruto snapped, "It was our first year of high school! I needed you, man!"

At that moment, I found the two things I was looking for, then said, "I know. I'm sorry. I've done wrong," I looked Naruto straight in the eye, and he calmed down, knowing I was dead serious, "But I need help, right now. And I could've looked for a total stranger, but I came to you, Naruto. Can I still trust you, even now?"

"...yeah, man, of course," Naruto nodded warily, wondering what I was up to, "But what...!"

He got really quiet when I pulled my goggles and bandanna mask out of my backpack, and put them on, then pulled my hood up. Making sure my face was totally covered, I looked at him, knowing he would know who I was when he saw my complete disguise.

"I'm Teleporter, in the Protectors Group," I said, when Naruto only stared at me, "Gaara and Shino are the other two members. That's why I started hanging out with them."

"...Holy..." Naruto spoke slowly, his thoughts slowly coming together, "Of course...and you've been able to do that popping thing since we were kids. How did I not get that until now...?"

_Because you are my best friend, but you are also an idiot, Naruto, _I wanted to say, but instead I nodded, "Exactly. I've had my power since I was small. Just like how you have your ability."

"My abi-" Naruto stopped, then he pointed at me, his mouth dropping open, "You want me to join you? Is that why you're here?!"

"Yeah," I said, taking off my disguised, "We need recruits. The new team, Team Masque, they wanna take over."

"Like hell, they will!" Naruto frowned, "That's so stupid! They should be helping you guys!"

"I don't think they care; they wanna do whatever they want," I shrugged, then raised an eyebrow at him, "So, you in?"

"...wait a sec," Naruto turned his frown to me, "Why did you never tell me any of this sooner? A whole year, you've been part of the coolest thing this city has seen, and you never told me. That's messed up, man!"

"Believe me, man, I wanted to," I shook my head, "But they wanted a small team. It's easier to hide, that way. And it worked, for a while. Then Kankurou...and Team Masque happened. Now, we need a big team. As big as we can get. We have to beat them."

"Wait, Kankurou...and the Puppet Master...!" Naruto's eyes widened even bigger and he snapped his fingers, "Kankurou was the Puppet Master?!"

"Yes, Naruto, yes, he was," I rolled my eyes, "So, are you in or are you out?"

"...Yeah!" Naruto grinned, wiping his nose the way he does when he gets all cocky, "Hell, yeah! I'd be crazy to turn down the chance to be a Protector!"

* * *

_Esperwen- _Super long chapter, to make up for the lack of posting. You know the drill, peeps: drop me a review!

BLAH. Ok, something I'm going to say now: I like watching subbed Japanese episodes of Naruto. I do not like saying their names backwards (I cringed when I typed 'Sakura Haruno'), or their English catch phrases (I'm sort of ok with Shikamaru saying 'what a drag' instead of 'troublesome', but I _refuse _to even type 'believe it!'). But, I wanted this to be as close to a North American high school (I'm working with what I know!), and anyway, this is an alternate universe. I'm keeping the whole Valentine's Day\White Day tradition that happens in Japan, but I'm also keeping their names in this order. I kind of miss the idea of them having uniforms, though... *sigh* Oh well...


	8. Everybody has Questions

_Esperwen_- Yeah, that's right. It's been only a week and a half, and I'm updating. I should have background music for this momentous moment!

* * *

-_Chapter _8 ~ _Everybody has Questions_-

_(Deniizu)_

_(KC High, lunch room)_

_(Wednesday)_

Sneaking into KC High is no big deal. I don't even think what I did even counts as sneaking in. Think about it: When the bell for their lunch period rang, I walked into the school, down some hallways, into the lunchroom, and sat down at the table Michiko, Pooriin, and now Hinata all sat at. No fuss, no teachers yelling to see my student ID...no big deal. And I did this at least three times a week. Not that I wasn't grateful to them, but every time I sat at the lunch table, I couldn't help but think that KC High's security needed to step up their game.

When I got to the table, the day after Hinata joined our team, , Pooriin and Hinata were arleayd there. As I sat down, Pooriin pushed a bowl of soup toward me.

"Michiko said it was really cold last night," Pooriin said, tossing me a spoon, "She said you might need that."

She had been right; there had been a cold snap the night before. I definitely needed that soup; it had been freezing. But I was their leader, and I didn't want to show them any signs of weakness, so I took my time eating the soup and changed the subject.

"Did you talk to Goudon about Hinata's costume?" I asked, stirring the broth to cool it.

"Yup," Pooriin grinned, reaching into this huge designer purse/bag thing that she had and passing me a thin folder.

I opened the folder, looked at what was in it, and then grinned at Hinata.

"Wh-wha-what is it?" Hinata stammered, blushing bright red.

"You'll look cute in this," I answered, showing her a sheet of paper, "It's the designs for your new uniform."

Somehow, Hinata turned an even deeper shade of red when she saw the drawn and coloured designs. Her costume was dark blue slacks, an oversized, hooded, lavender coat with white sleeves and hood, and a light purple mask that covered the top half of her face. It was a modest, decent uniform, and I didn't get why she was blushing.

"What's wrong with it?" Pooriin asked, alarmed at Hinata's expression.

"What? Your Foresight didn't warn you about your uniform?" I joked.

"N-no..." Hinata stammered, "It's just...I think I'll feel rather...foolish, dressing up..."

I had to laugh. But only for a moment; I could tell Hinata here was sensitive, and hurting her feelings on purpose would've been just mean.

"Don't think of it as a costume," I suggested, after taking a slurp of cafeteria soup, "Think of it as war clothes."

"We need to wear our uniforms as disguises, too," Pooriin added, backing me up, "We need more than just a mask. Think about it: you would never wear something like this in every day life. It is totally _not _you."

"I...um...ok..." Hinata sighed, nodding hesitantly.

I was pleased; that just goes to show how much she wanted to join Team Masque. The Protectors were insane to think we weren't worth their time.

"Don't worry about feeling weird about the costume, though," Pooriin said, taking the file folder of Goudon's costume designs from me, "We all had to get used to them. Our leader in Oto wouldn't stop complaining for the whole first month about his outfit. Michiko and our other teammate were the only ones that actually liked their costumes."

Man, I'd _hated _ the costumes, at first. But they were comfortable and warm, not to mention we _had _to wear them, so I didn't complain anymore.

"This is just another way we make ourselves unrecognizable," I said, stirring my food again, "We also have to train your voice."

"My voice?" Hinata's hand flew up to her throat.

"Yeah. Everyone has a unique voice, not to mention that we pronounce and enunciate certain words all differently," Pooriin nodded, with a small sigh, "So, we practice to make our voices' tones and expressions more generic. That way, when we're interviewed by the press or try to give our fellow citizens a pep talk, we're less likely to have our voices recognized if they heard us talking on the street or at school."

"Oh...oh, I get it," Hinata nodded, "Ok."

At that moment, some guy walked up to us. Hinata's pretty quiet as she is, but when that guy got to our table, she went completely soundless. She froze where she was, and I think she quit breathing, for a moment. She even slouched, like she was trying to make herself smaller.

I kind of understood how someone might get freaked out by the guy. He looked related to Hinata, with the same skin, hair, and eyes. But he was so different from her, at the same time. His eyes were a cold, cold white, and I could feel his confidence from where I sat, even though there was a table between us. And Hinata was gentle. This boy felt like he was angry at everything and everyone. Hinata let her long hair down, loose and casual, but his was tied back, all strict and tidy. I'm still not sure if that was his normal face, or if he was frowning at us.

The boy didn't even say anything. He just stood there, glaring at me, Pooriin, and especially at Hinata. And then, still looking at Hinata, he shook his head a little, and then walked away.

Pooriin and I watched him leave in silence. When he was far enough away, Hinata actually sighed in relief, and Pooriin let her tough face relax as she started breathing again.

"Who the hell was that?" I frowned, taking another sip of my almost-forgotten soup.

"That's Neji Hyuuga, captain of the martial arts club," Pooriin answered, talking to me but looking at Hinata.

"Hyuuga?" I turned to my newest teammate, wanting an explanation; wasn't that _her _family name?

"He...he is my cousin," Hinata said quietly, playing her her fingers, "He's a year older than me..."

She didn't say any more, after that. She didn't eat that much more, either. Why was she so afraid of Neji?

I wanted to ask her some more questions, but I held back. She was having a hard enough time getting to know Pooriin and me as it was. I could always ask about it some other time. Or, I could wait for Pooriin to dig up more gossip about the two of them, and ask her to tell me about it later. That's one of Pooriin's special skills; her popularity helped her gather a lot of information fast.

"...Where's Michiko?" I asked, changing the subject; I wished she could've seen Neji, just to watch her react. She's a beast when it comes to protecting her friends.

"With Inuzuka, her babysitter," Pooriin said drily, pointing across the room.

And there was Michiko, sitting between Kiba and some blonde kid I'd never seen before. She looked kinda..miserable.

"Why the hell is she there?!" I blurted, getting the feeling that her foster family was the reason she was sad. Again.

"She said to tell you," Hinata said softly, "That she was...grounded."

I could only stare at her. 'Grounded'? At school? That didn't make any sense!

"What the hell?!"

~*~

_(Michiko)_

_(Inuzuka residence)_

_(Wednesday, after school)_

"It's for your own good!"

"It's stupid, and you know it!"

"You'll sit with me during lunch every Wednesday! And that's final!"

I was gonna yell about how unfair he was being, but then Kiba went outside and slammed the front door, almost on my nose. Watching him through a window, I saw him cross the street and walk up to one of the houses. That was Naruto's house, and old friend of his, and my social worker's house, I knew.

"Are you two done yelling, yet?" a voice asked, behind me.

I crossed my arms and looked at my foster sister, Hana, sullenly. The family dog also entered the room, at that moment.

"Bro's a jerk," I pouted, as Akamaru sat on the couch beside me, "He's grounding me at school."

"So I heard," Hana shrugged, moving to the window and peeking out, "Where'd the little twerp go, anyway?"

"Naruto's house. He took his backpack, so they're probably doing homework."

Hana gave me a knowing look, and then we both grinned. We both knew Kiba wasn't going to even touch his homework.

"Whatever...so long as nobody starts bleeding, I'm not gonna get involved in you and Kiba's arguments," Hana shrugged, moving away from the window, "You two are handling this on your own. I'm heading out."

"Are you working, again?" I asked, as Hana opened the nearby coat closet.

"Yeah," Hana grinned, pulling on her coat, "I'm waitressing at Ichiraku's for a few hours. Mom's doing secretary work at City Hall, still, so the house is all you and Akamaru's until...maybe midnight."

The family dog nudged my hand with his nose when he heard his name. Akamaru's a beautiful, big white dog...another thing that's great about the Inuzuka's is that they love dogs. They're almost perfect. ...my key word being 'almost'.

"Midnight. Got it."

I sighed, without thinking. Hana gave me a look, then pulled me into a quick bear hug.

"He's only trying to keep you safe," Hana said sternly, letting me go.

"Pooriin Chatora is not a threat," I frowned, involuntarily leaning back a little, away from her.

Hana rolled her eyes at me, then moved away and dug around the closet for her shoes.

"Believe me, Michi, if you knew what we know, you'd be skeptical about the Chatora, too," Hana said, pulling her shoes on.

"Then _tell_ me what happened between you and them!" I exclaimed, but was disappointed when Hana only shook her head.

"That's Inuzuka business," the 21-year-old said seriously, touching the red fang tattoos on her cheeks, "Until you become an Inuzuka, I can't tell you."

I felt my heart sink. So, I had to be an official member of their family; not just a friend. I guessed I'd never know.

"...don't worry, kid," Hana said, after watching me look all sad for a moment or two, as she opened the front door, "I'll tell you the story sooner than you think."

I stared at her blankly, for a moment.

"Wait, but I'm not an Inu...!"

I clapped my hands over my mouth when I realized what Hana might have meant.

"Are...you...?"

"Well, I have work to do," Hana grinned, stepping outside.

"Wh-what...wait..._wait!_"

I hurried to the doorway, but she was already on the sidewalk.

"Are you going to adopt me?!" I yelled after her, "If you're kidding, I swear, I'll..." I thought for a moment, then blurted, "I'll do something_ drastic!_"

I was going to say 'die from disappointment', but that didn't sound sane, not even in my head. So I kept it to myself.

"See you tomorrow morning, Michiko!" Hana called to me, completely ignoring what I'd just said, and soon she was around the corner.

I couldn't move for a moment, I was so stunned. I just sort of stared after her for a few minutes, until I realized how cold it was outside and shut the door.

"...Am I gonna be an Inuzuka, Akamaru?" I asked, petting the big goofball's head.

He made a short, low bark, and then smiled at me with his mouth open and tongue hanging out. I smiled back, assuming that meant 'yes'. Everything the world was moving _awesomely._ ...Except for the Inuzuka and Chatora families hating each other part. That part I still didn't get.

Then I realized that the back of my jeans' waistband was vibrating.

For a moment, I thought, "That's kinda...weird," then I realized what it was. I reached back and under my faded, blue t-shirt and unhooked from my back belt loop the small cellphone that was hidden there. I can't afford a cell phone. Pooriin's older brother, Goudon, however, could afford to buy one for every member of Team Masque.

I slid the phone open and saw that Deniizu had sent me a text.

()Hinata's power training is going well. Her long-sight range goes as far as 5 blocks!()

_That's good,_ I thought, _But that could've waited until tomorrow. Why tell me now?_

Then I read the rest of the text.

()But her voice lessons suck ass. Are you still grounded?()

I understood that she wanted my help. I was the one that did most of the voice training in Oto. And...I didn't _think_ I was still 'grounded', as Kiba called it. I was pretty sure I was only grounded at school, and only during lunch.

()I'll be right there,() I texted back, ()Where are you?()

"Sorry, Akamaru, but I've gotta go," I said, scratching his ears before heading upstairs, "I've gotta help someone train."

Realizing what I'd said, out loud, I clapped a hand over my mouth for a second before whispering, "Don't tell anyone, though. Not even Kiba. I shouldn't even be telling you."

At first, Akamaru didn't answer. He just ran up the stairs and into my room ahead of me.

When I got to my room, I saw Akamaru pushing my bedroom window open with his nose; it swung open like a glass door. When he was done, he turned around and woofed at me.

"I guess I have your approval?"

_**Woof!**_

"You know you're the most awesome dog ever, don't ya, boy?" I laughed, speed changing into my costume and shoving my normal clothes into my book bag.

Another _**Woof!**_

My cell vibrated again.

()I'm at Hinata's place. I'll send a wind current your way. Look for white petals.()

I scribbled down a note and hooked it to Akamaru's collar, for Mama-Tsume or Kiba if I didn't get back before midnight. It said I was at Hinata's house to help her with some work, which was kind of true.

"...I wish I could tell the Inuzukas what I do," I sighed, sitting on my window sill.

Akamaru whined a little, resting his head on my lap.

"You're very understanding, aren't you, Akamaru?" I smiled, scratching behind his ears.

A breeze brushed across my face, and when I looked out my window, white flower petals were wafting in the air.

"There's my ride," I said, making my molecules go all light and airy, "I'll see you later, boy."

I floated out and pushed my window until it was almost shut, and after waving one more time to Akamaru, I drifted into Deniizu's wind current and let it carry me to Hinata's house.

As I floated away, I looked back at the little townhouse that had been my hoeme for the past month. Not just my foster home. My _home_.

And that's when I realized how much I loved living there. I never wanted to leave. The idea of leaving the Inuzukas felt worse how it was when I left Oto. And I thought I'd never feel that badly, ever again.

~*~

_(Shino Aburame)  
_

_(One week later)_

_(Walking home from school)_

"...What does 'Insect' mean?"

When Michiko asked me what my code name meant, I was not particularly surprised. It had nothing to do with trigonometry, the math class that we had been discussing only a moment before, but I supposed that there was no way we could tie our alter-egos into common conversation.

"I thought we had agreed not to betray our teams," I said sternly, dodging the question. After all, today she asks about my powers, and tomorrow, she might ask where the Protectors' headquarters were.

"I'm not asking as a _spy,_ Shino," she countered gently, "I'm asking as a...as a friend. I'm curious."

I glanced at her once before looking to the road ahead again, the both of us on our usual walking route home. 'A friend', she had said. I supposed that yes, over the past month and a half, after our many conversations together, we had become friends. Close friends, even; when Kiba got too ridiculously strict with her, the first person she looked to for help and advise was me. And I found myself looking forward to these walks. I have never been so easily attached to someone before; this was strange to me.

"If you still don't trust me, I think I understand," Michiko said, sounding embarrassed, "Bro said that you don't really-"

"Tell me about what 'Matter' means, first."

She looked at me, a little startled. I have never actually ordered her to do anything, ever. But I also have never volunteered information for free. In reality, I did want to tell her about my abilities, almost to the same degree that I wanted to ask her about hers, but I wasn't going to tell her without something in return.

"It, well..." she thought for a moment, then explained, almost using that unfamiliar, toneless voice she sometimes spoke with; I had noticed that she spoke that way when she was a vigilante, "I can become very solid, and very heavy, or I can become very light, and airy. I change my body's density, and it's, um...well, it's like the properties of matter. I can change my form, to a certain degree. Does that make sense?" I nodded, so she added, "And you? Tell me about 'Insect'."

"I am becoming a human insect." That was the most precise way of looking at my powers.

"...I'm sorry; you're going to have to explain a little more," Michiko said, looking at me strangely.

"My body is gaining more and more insect attributes."

"...'gaining'? ...'_more_'?"

I nodded once. We walked in silence for a little while. It was not until we passed a group of kids from our school when she realized why I would not explain further.

"...Oh! Your voice! You don't want people to hear your voice, so that it stays secret, so you don't like telling long answers," she exclaimed, nodding rapidly, then winced, "Oh. We're playing 10 questions again, aren't we?"

Again, one nod. It was similar to the usual game of '20 questions', only with half the number and without the need for the questions to be yes-or-no. We 'played' this often. It was the easiest way for me to talk with her and know whether I was revealing too much or not.

"Um...ok, uh...You said you were 'gaining' abilities, so I guess didn't always have powers?"

"Correct." Once upon a time, Shino Aburame was a complete human.

"Then, I guess...oh! So, your super strength is because some insects can carry many times their own body weight, right? And the high jumping is like fleas or grasshoppers, right?"

I nodded. She knew her animal facts. Or perhaps I spoke about bugs more often than I thought I did.

"...but how did you know those powers were based on insect attributes? You could've just thought you had super strength."

I thought for a moment? Should I tell her? She didn't need to know.

...but I wanted to tell her.

"...Only super strength? My first power was translating vibrations I feel into sound." This was similar to how antennae worked. It made eavesdropping over long distances significantly easier. For example, a criminal could be explaining his plan in a sealed basement, and I could 'hear' what he was saying by putting my ear and the palms of my hands to the floor of the room above. I used to use this to eavesdrop on my parents.

"That's a lot more interesting than my ability," Michiko half-smiled, "Um...how old were you when you first found out?"

"10."

The memory was painful. I think Michiko noticed, because suddenly she got quiet.

"...oh...I'm sorry I brought it up," she said quietly.

She apologized too often. Looking at her sideways, I saw her eyes were trained to her feet. I realized that she thought she had offended me.

...and now she looked sad. Over the past couple weeks since Team Masque had entered Konoha, I had discovered that she could actually be this silly, occasionally clumsy, happy girl. Her quiet, sad, neurotic side had shown due to homesickness and...partly from fear. Looking at her, returning to that state of upset, I realized I wanted her cheerful self back. Perhaps I felt that way because of personal guilt (after all, I had contributed largely to her sadness, those first few weeks), but I did not want her sad, again.

"Were you born with your abilities?" I asked, without thinking.

"I...n-no."

She was startled, having grown used to being the one who asked questions. When Michiko is startled, she tends to babble.

"Uh...well, maybe. Maybe I was and I didn't notice them. Uhm...I first used my ability about a month after I met Deniizu. She was downtown...I guess she picked a fight with the wrong guy, because when I turned the corner, she had this _gun_ pointed at her head. I tackled the guy...he landed on his back and ended up pointing the gun at me. And then I got...heavy..."

She got this pained look on her face. Her babbles tend to go horribly wrong.

"...Never mind, then," I said quietly, "You do not need to tell me."

We walked in silence for a little while.

_So much for cheering her up, _I could not help but think to myself.

We were getting close to the Inuzuka household; we were perhaps a block away, when she spoke up again.

"Shino...Do you ever hate your abilities?"

I did not even have to think about my answer.

"Sometimes," I admitted; after all, vibrations sometimes give me headaches, and occasionally I forgot how strong I was and broke something. But I told her, "Powers are imperfect. Honey bees can only sting once, and then they die. But they will still sting the enemy if their nest is under attack."

"And that's why you train and use your powers...you want to protect Konoha?"

"Precisely." I liked how I never had to explain my metaphors to Michiko.

...I was not sure, but I thought I heard her whisper, "Me, too."

We arrived at the Inuzuka's, at that moment. Michiko looked towards the steps to her front door, then smiled lopsidedly at me.

"Are you on patrol, tonight?" she asked; then, when I shrugged and nodded, "So am I. I might see you, then."

She waved goodbye to me, then started towards the stairs. I hesitated, but when she was about to pass me, I put an arm in front of her, stopping her. I wanted to tell her something. ...just because. We stood very close to each other; I bent my head down a little so that I could speak close to her ear.

"When I first discovered my powers," I said in a low voice, a part of me wondering what the hell I was doing, "It came as...a bit of a shock. My mother was speaking to me, and suddenly it was like she was yelling at the top of her lungs. I...pushed her. So that she would step back. ...there were stairs right behind her, and she fell..."

"Oh...!" Michiko turned to me, a pained look on her face, "That must have been terrible for you! Was she alright?"

"Yes." She was hurt, but not seriously. She survived that...

"...you volunteered that...even though I didn't ask..." Michiko played with her hair a little, "Does that mean that I've earned your trust?"

"We are friends, now, are we not?" I raised an eyebrow at her, "And that was your last question. I'll see you tonight."

* * *

_Esperwen- _Omg, looking at my notes, the next chapter is looooooooooong. But you have to wait for it! Ohohoho!

You know the drill, people! Review! I give out internet food to people who review!


	9. Once Upon an October

_Esperwen_- Sorry, guys; I meant to update last night, but some kind of internal error or something happened. Even now, the problem isn't resolved; I'm uploading using cut & paste with one of my older chapters. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

-_Chapter _9 ~ _Once Upon an October Night_-

_(Kiba Inuzuka)_

_(One of Konoha's streets)_

_(Late October)_

"You excited?"

"You hafta ask?! Hell, yeah!"

I didn't have to ask, actually, but it was still fun to hear Naruto say it. The guy was practically bouncing off the walls! He told me that ever since the Protectors started to patrol Konoha, he's wanted to join, but he never knew how to meet us. And that night was his first night on duty, wearing ski goggles to hide his face, and the Protectors' bandanna on his forehead. It was an exciting day for both of us; I got to go on patrol for the first time with one of my oldest friends.

"Kiba, this is freakin' awesome!" Naruto grinned at me, as we walked around Konoha City that night, looking for trouble, "Oh wait, we need to use our code names, right? T, this is freakin' awesome! I thought my training would never end!"

"You got it easy," I grinned back, before glancing down an alleyway, "You already knew how to use your ability well enought to fight and protect yourself. And I trust you, so Sand's willing to cut you some slack. That's all you need to walk the streets with us. And you don't need to use code names unless people are around."

"It took two weeks of training for Sand to let me leave the base-"

"Hey, it was two months for Sand to say I was ready. And Insect had to train for almost half a year."

I glanced down another alley. Nope, nothing happening there, either.

"Oh, then I'm awesome!" Naruto smirked, rubbing his nose, "I finished training faster than both of you!"

"No, you just have abilities that are easy to master," I smirked back, then dodged a punch from Naruto before looking into the next alley, "...things are quiet tonight."

"Yeah. I think maybe it's because there's two teams on the streets, now," Naruto nodded, crossing his arms as he marched down the sidewalk.

"Maybe, I agreed, still looking down alleyways and into dark corners, "But this means that we and Team Masque will need to start competing for work. And then the game really starts!"

"Yeah...Man, I still don't get that," Naruto said, and I groaned, knowing we were going to have an argument that we'd been fighting almost ever since Naruto had joined the Protectors, "Why do we have to fight Team Masque? Why aren't we allies?"

"Sand already asked them, Recruit," I said for the 5 billionth time, using Naruto's code name, "They didn't wanna join us, and this is our territory, so they're trespassing on our land! We've been over this!"

"But we're doing the same things they are! We could at least have a truce, or something," Naruto insisted.

"They don't want a truce. They want the city for themselves."

"Did they say that?" Recruit looked straight at me, "Did they? Are you _sure_ they don't wanna work with us?"

He had a point there; they never actually came out in the open and said they would take over. But I shook the thought off; it was only a matter of time before they would.

"Trust me, man, they strut around in front of cameras and in stupid costumes. They want the city to worship them; they don't really care if Konoha City is safe."

"I wouldn't say that, Kiba. I mean, T," the guy said, shrugging shoulders, "The girl in pink, Speeder or something, ran into a house to save three kids and an old lady a couple days back."

"Big deal."

"The house had a gas leak. She could have been poisoned, or even worse, the house could've exploded!" Naruto gave me a narrow-eyed look, but I looked down the street, pretending I didn't see his expression.

"Speedy also has a helluva temper," I laughed, "She's freakin' fun to bother! She flips out every time!"

I liked getting Speedy angry, whenever we saw each other on the streets at night. I'd yell a few insults about her teammates, and before you knew it, she was rushing at me. Sometimes, a punch actually got me. She totally had no self control. It was hilarious.

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto made this weird smile, "You like teasing her? Sounds like you like her."

"What?!" my jaw dropped, at first, then I glared at Naruto and punched his arm, "You're out of your mind! Moron!"

"Am I?" Naruto grinned, showing all his teeth, "Or are you just embarrassed 'cuz it's true?"

"You are!" I snapped, showing my friend a clenched fist, "You know I like someone else!"

"Oh, yeah, whats-her-face...Hina, right?"

"Her name's Hinata! Hinata Hyuuga!" I yelled, punching at the guy's stupid face. I swear, punching his face was the only way to get Naruto's attention.

"I know! Dude, control yourself!" Naruto laughed, dodging and continuing down the street as if I'd never tried to hit him, "You've only liked her since kindergarten!"

"Third grade!" I corrected angrily, then added, "And it's not like you've never liked someone for a really long time, but who didn't like you back!"

"Hey, that's different!" Naruto exclaimed, "I'm over Sakura, now!"

"Only because she's going out with your buddy, Sasuke!"

I still hadn't figured out how a rebel like Naruto, and Sasuke Uchiha, our grade's student council representative, ever got to be close buds. But they were, like Shino and me. I wasn't the only one who changed during the last couple years.

"Hey, at least I had the guts to actually ask Sakura out!" Naruto reminded me with a snap, his hands balling into fists.

"You calling me a coward, punk?" I growled, baring my teeth at Naruto; so what if I'd never gotten the guts to ask Hinata out?! I'm sure plenty of other guys were in the same situation as me!

We yelled some stuff that my mom would've grounded me for saying, if she'd heard it. Then I punched his head again. Naruto didn't like that, so he lunged at me. We probably would've kept fighting if Naruto had actually tackled me. But before we crashed into each other, two pairs of identical hands caught Naruto in the air.

"Hang on, man, we've got business," a second Naruto said to the first Naruto, while he and a third Naruto set the original Naruto down.

My man, Naruto, here, had an awesome ability. We called him 'Recruit', because not only was he the first recruit the Protectors had ever had, but also because he could recruit as many clones of himself as he could keep track of. When we were little, Naruto could only make two clones, but now, he could handle eight clones at once. On his own, he's twice the size of our original team!

"We're on a mission? Cool!" Naruto brightened up automatically as his clones put him back on the ground, "Where?"

"South side of town," one of the clones smirked, "There's a shoot-out that Sand and Insect need help with, and it's got our name written all over it."

~*~

_(Gaara Suna)  
_

_(Naruto's first night on patrol)  
_

_(South side of town)_

"Sand, get down!"

Hearing Insect's warning, I dropped to the ground behind a dumpster. Bits of old brick rained down on me as bullets hit the wall behind me; quickly, I used the pieces to make more sand for later use. I heard a grunt, and the sound of a body falling to the ground.

"I got him, Sand. It's safe; you can come out now," Insect said calmly.

I came out of my hiding place warily, lest I get ambushed again.

"How many is that now?" I asked, meaning how many gang members had been scared away or stopped.

"Seventeen," Recruit answered, grinning arrogantly as he adjusted the goggles that hid most of his face, "We got 'em all."

"You sure?" Teleporter asked, walking in and carrying another unconscious body over his shoulder. Dropping the thug, Teleporter recounted the bodies around us in the dark alleyway, then added the number of people he knew had run away, "Hey, yeah! We actually got 'em all, even with Recruit in the way!"

"Hey..."

Recruit moved forward, seeming to step out of himself, and suddenly there were two blonde loudmouths. Though he was loud and annoying, I had to admit Recruit was quite adept with using his cloning ability.

"Take that back; I did good!" Recruit grumbled, clearly not liking to be teased.

"C'mon, man, you rushed in too early!" Teleporter argued, recalling Recruit's earlier blunder that could have brought us to ruin, had we been a little less experienced with shoot-outs.

"I thought Shino said 'go'!"

"I said 'slow'! 'Move quietly and slow'!" Insect corrected, crossing his arms and frowning down at Recruit.

"...Oh," Recruit closed his eyes and rubbed his chin, "That makes more sense."

I could sense my other two Protectors getting antsy, so I decided to intervene.

"That was foolish, Recruit," I said calmly, gathering all their attention to me, "Premature starts are just as bad as missing a signal. I thought Insect taught you that."

"I did," said Insect, the same time as Recruit said, "He did."

"Then remember it!" I interjected, narrowing my eyes at Recruit, "This city is counting on us. If we can't even have one small, organized, unified attack, how can the city trust us with its whole self? I hope I have not made a mistake, allowing you to join our group."

"You haven't!" Naruto exclaimed, looking as if I'd just threatened to kick him off of some major league sports team, "I'll be careful next time, I swear!"

"Good," I nodded, quite satisfied with the fact that Kiba had found a new team member that was so loyal to our cause. I touched my face to make sure the paint over my eyes was still there before continuing, "It's well past midnight. I think it's time we all headed home."

"Yeah, I have math homework due yesterday that I still have to finish," Teleporter agreed, yawning openly.

"Aw, but we just started!" Recruit whined, his jaw dropping wide.

"Let's head home, Naruto!" Kiba growled.

"But I'm not tired!"

The two incorrigible pests started bickering. Loudly. The alley we were in wasn't residential, and nobody's attention was on us, so I decided not to scold them for being nuisances. Instead, I watched Insect. He was looking up at the rooftops, with a finger rubbing one of his earlobes. Then he put a hand on one of the nearby walls; he was sensing for vibrations, I knew. I walked over to stand beside him, and also looked up to try and see what he was looking towards.

"Do you hear something?" I asked in a low voice, lest I break his concentration.

"Two girls are coming," Insect answered, his hand dropping from the wall, but his eyes never moving away.

"Team Masque?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Teleporter asked, turning away from almost punching Recruit's face when he heard me say our rival team's name. I noted to myself that he seemed to try to punch Recruit's face often. I would have wondered why had I cared a little more.

"Team Masque is coming here? Cool!" Recruit exclaimed. He thought everything was cool.

"One sounds like the girl they call 'Matter'," Insect answered, still watching the dark rooftops as Teleporter and Recruit joined us, "But the other sounds new..."

"Why the hell are they coming here?" Teleporter growled, "The hell do they want?"

"Maybe they're surrendering," Recruit suggested. I doubted he was right, considering how adamantly their leader refused to join us.

At that moment, two airy girls came over the roof of the old factory we faced. One wore light blue, the other wore faded purple, and both wore masks; Matter wore a blue mask that covered her face around her eyes, while her friend wore a light purple drama mask that covered her entire face. Insect had been right again; there was a new Masque.

The two girls did not approach us at first. Matter whispered something to the other Masque, and in response, the Masque nodded.

"Whoa," Recruit flinched a little when the newcomer pointed at Recruit as she whispered something back to Matter.

"Whaddaya want?!" Teleporter barked.

The girls looked at Teleporter, then at each other, before taking a few steps toward us, until they were a polite talking distance away from us.

"Protectors of Konoha," Matter curtsied a little, though in mock or genuine respect, I was not sure; her voice's tone told me nothing.

"Team Masque," I nodded, eying our newest opponent warily; she was constantly just half a step behind Matter.

"Whaddaya w-!"Insect pulled Teleporter's mask tighter around his face so that it acted as a gag and Teleporter stopped speaking. I mentally made a note to thank him later; I understood that he hated Team Masque, but Teleporter always spoke too much when he was around them. One day, his voice was going to be recognized, and if one identity is discovered, all of us are lost.

"Is there something you needed, Matter?" Insect said smoothly, stepping forward.

"I have a message for your new teammate," Matter answered, looking at Recruit, "Mind if I speak to him?"

"My name's Recruit, and you can tell me in front of my team whatever it is you wanna say," the boy said loudly, crossing his arms.

"That's fine," the girl in blue nodded, "My friend here, Vision, just wanted to warn you that you are going to be shot-"

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"-very soon-"

Teleporter and Recruit started laughing. I thought it was a little rude, but I didn't stop them.

"-and you'll get very hurt, possibly even die," Matter finished, as her teammate stepped closer behind her.

"Your warning is late, and frankly, inaccurate," Insect said with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, "There is no longer any danger of Recruit getting shot."

"The gangs are gone, man," Teleporter laughed, shaking his head, "We just finished off seventeen people in a shoot-out! You're five minutes too late!"

But both Masques looked dead serious.

"At least one gunman is coming back," Matter insisted, taking a slow step forward.

"Hey, stay back," Recruit frowned, when he saw our enemy coming toward him.

"We may be rivals, but I don't want anyone hurt," Matter said, pulling her friend by the hand so they stayed close together.

"Stay back!" Recruit snapped, taking a step backwards.

The new Masque grabbed Matter's sleeve at the elbow. She tugged her arm three times.

"They're almost here!" Matter exclaimed.

"I hear somone coming," Insect said sharply at the same time.

"You do?!" Teleporter asked Insect, surprised. He glanced at the two Masques before teleporting to a rooftop.

"Trust us!" Matter said, still approaching Recruit; her friend's grip getitng tighter on her arm.

"Shit, eight people!" Teleporter yelled, popping back onto ground-level just as I heard a gunshot. It sounded like it came from the road.

"Get down!" Insect yelled, grabbing Recruit and pulling him behind a dumpster. To my surprise, Matter snatched my arm and followed after Insect, just as a bullet imbedded itself into the wall behind me, at the same level as where my head had just been.

It took a moment, but then the thought registered: A Masque just saved me from getting shot in the head.

"Vision, never let go of me!" Matter ordered, gripping her friend's hand, "We're bullet-proof now and I intend to keep you this way." Silently, the girl in lavender nodded.

Gunshots rang out into the night, and I heard the ping of bullets glancing off of the dumpster we hid behind. Insect leapt overhead and out of sight, and Matter winced at a curse and then a crash that she heard; she knew one guy was taken out.

"Seven shooters left-" Insect started, speaking though the headset that my entire team was equipped with.

"No, six," Teleporter corrected, and we all heard a thud, "They're all blocking the way out of the alley."

"We could use a little help," Insect added, "T and I are the only ones fighting, right now."

"Here, I can help," Recruit said, and with a puff of smoke, suddenly there was five of him.

"Wow," Matter and Vision said at the same time, then Matter added, as four Recruits ran out to fight, "Impressive."

"Hell, yeah!" the real Recruit smirked as he stayed where it was safe, wiping his nose proudly.

Then I noticed that Matter was still holding my arm. Casually, I tried moving out of her grasp, but she held on tight.

"Three left!" I heard over my radio. I glared at Matter, knowing I should be helping with the fighting, but she only slowly shook her head at me before looking towards the alley's entrance, where the fighting was.

...Then I understood.

"Recruit wasn't the target," I said, gathering the new Masque and Recruit's attentions, "It was me. You came to protect not Recruit, but me."

And when Matter refused to meet my gaze, I knew that I was right.

~*~

_(Pooriin Chatora)  
_

_(Recruit and Vision's first night on the street)  
_

_(Speeding down 13th Street)  
_

I'm the only one of Team Masque who can drive. This meant that I got the job as getaway car. It used to be Temari's job, but she's still in Oto City. Michiko and Hinata were still too young to apply for licences, and Deniizu still hasn't gotten hers (she can drive, just not legally), so like I said; it's my job to drive in like a hero if someone needs rescuing.

I don't mind driving; in fact, I think driving's fun, but when I'm in a hurry, cars seem way too slow. Especially if Michiko sends me a text like:

()Stayed supersolid for too long, out of energy, can't move. Pick Vision and I up at 13th St. and Onsen.()

Honestly, messages like that are just scary. Seriously. You can die from using your powers so much that you use up all your energy. And Michiko's almost killed herself from trying too hard during a mission more than once.

So there I was, almost speeding down the street to rescue my friends, hoping that I didn't get pulled over. I was really, really worried! Bad enough that I knew my friend could die if I didn't get there soon enough; imagine my panic when I screeched my brother's car around the corner, to see that Michiko and Hinata were surrounded by four Protectors! All four of the Protectors! I didn't even know there were four Protectors until that moment! I thought there were only three! If my friends weren't standing in the middle of them, I might've freaked out and tried to hit them with my brother's car! That's how jumpy I was.

But instead, I just pulled up to the curb beside them. I also was glad that I'd remembered to cover my brother's license plates before heading out. If the Protectors had seen those license numbers and tracked down my brother, Team Masque would be screwed.

"Get away from them!" I yelled, honking the horn for good measure.

"Could ya calm down? We're guarding them for you!" T snapped at me. That guy was so rude.

I was going to yell something witty and insulting back at T, but then Michiko stepped out of their circle. She looked so pale, and she had almost no energy...the new Protector guy and Insect were holding her steady, and Hinata had to open the car door for her. I noticed that Michiko made Hinata go in first, and she never let go of Hinata's arm during the whole thing. I realized that Michiko was keeping the both of them bulletproof.

"What you did changes nothing," I heard Sand say in a low voice to Michiko, as she sat down in the back seat, "We are still enemies. I will do you no favours. You and your team still do not belong in my city!"

"I know," Michiko said at a normal volume through clenched teeth, "I'm doing this vigilante thing because it's right; not because it's fun."

"Don't touch my car," I added sternly, turning around in my seat and glaring at Sand.

Sand gave me a cold look before leaning away from Michiko and shutting the car door. As I drove away, I watched the Protectors in my rear view mirror. All four of them were just watching us leave, standing together under a dim street light. The scene was creepy...and yet, kinda cool. Like four dark superheros in the night. ...Except Team Masque is the _real _superhero team, of course!

"Rini..."

I winced at how drained Michi's voice sounded; I didn't need to ask what she needed.

"Vision, there's a cooler on the floor there," I said over my shoulder, keeping my eyes on the road, "Pass Matter one of those energy drinks. The windows in this car are tinted, so you can take off your mask, but remember to put them back on when we enter HQ." It was a rule with Team Masque: your mask stays on while you're in your uniform, unless you are in the safety of headquarters or one of the team's cars.

I could hear some rummaging, a can popping open, a "Thank you," and then the faint sound of Michiko gulping down liquid caffeine and sugar.

"...so what happened?" I asked, when the gulping finished.

"...someone needed saving," Michiko said quietly.

"And you brought Hinata along?" I asked, sharply, "Hinata is Deniizu's apprentice, not yours. You know that."

Hinata's traning was still incomplete. Deniizu had arranged to be Hinata's teacher, because she had the strongest fighting ability, and Hinata had the weakest. This meant that Hinata was supposed to train with, get advice from, and patrol the city with Deniizu. Michiko knew that Hinata would be safest with Deniizu; it was too dangerous for Hinata to go out with anyone else until she had more experience.

"Yeah...I'm sorry. I made a mistake," Michiko admitted apologetically, "But we didn't have much of a choice."

"Yeah, sure," I rolled my eyes, "There's always a choice."

"Hinata needs to be there if she has a vision of someone getting hurt, remember?" Michiko said, and I could see Hinata nodding beside her, "She had to be there. She went to headquarters early, and I was the only one there when she had her vision. We had to leave right away, if we wanted that person saved, so we went for it. You didn't get my message?"

"Oh, is that so?" I shrugged, calming down now that I understood what was going on, "I got your text on the way to HQ, so I never saw if you left a note. At least Hinata isn't hurt, right?"

"Yeah, you're ok, right?" Michiko asked, looking at Hinata tiredly.

"Um...um, y-yeah," Hinata nodded, meeting Michiko's gaze, then looking at her feet and playing with her fingers. I drove silently for a moment or two.

"...Who was the target, anyway?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

Neither of them answered me for the longest time. In that moment, I remembered what Sand had said to Michiko.

"...You rescued a Protector?!" I exclaimed, horrified.

"...not just a Protector," Michiko mumbled, "More like _the_ Protector..."

I slammed the brakes and spun around in my seat to face her. I couldn't believe my ears!

"You rescued Sand!" I yelled, making Hinata flinch.

Michiko looked dully at me, then out the car window.

"Deniizu is going to kill you!" I exclaimed, starting to hyperventilate.

"Not if I don't tell her. Deniizu doesn't have to know."

"But she will! What if she heard your fight on the wind?!" I wrung my hands, breathing so fast I was starting to feel dizzy, "Deniizu always knows! You really think _you_, of all people, can keep a secret from Deniizu? No offense, but you're a terrible liar, and Deniizu's the one who hears _everything_ that goes on in the city! You are _so_ dead! You're gonna get kicked off the team!"

"It's not Michiko's fault!" Hinata gasped, putting a hand on Michiko's arm, "I told her to go! If anyone's going to get kicked-"

"You're not at fault, Hina," Michiko interrupted, shaking her head, "It's all on me. I could have ignored you when you told me about your vision. I could've kept you from going. Pooriin, you're gonna pass out; take deep breaths."

"I _am _taking deep breaths! Why _didn't _you keep Hinata from going!?" I yelled, gradually getting my breathing under control, "Deniizu would probably let things go if you hadn't taken her apprentice with you!"

"We just said!" Michiko exclaimed, making a frustrated motion with her hands.

"I have to be in the area, otherwise the vision will definitely come true," Hinata added, taking Michiko's empty can before she threw it, or something.

I groaned out loud, flopping back into my seat. This was a mess. A _big _mess. Deniizu was not going to be happy when she heard what Michiko did. I took some more deep breaths so that I could calm down and clear my head. Then I hit the steering wheel a few times.

"This is bad, guys." I moaned, getting ready to drive again, "When Deniizu gets mad..."

But I never finished that sentence. I heard a loud clap, like thunder, and looking forward, I saw things like trashcans tipping over and telephone poles shaking...like an invisible wave was coming toward us.

"...Oh..." I could only stare for a moment, "O-ok, um, guys? I'm sorry for yelling...but what is that?" I asked, pointing at the road in front of us.

Michiko looked at me strangely, wondering why I changed the subject so suddenly, then looked outside. She frowned at it, not knowing what the invisible wave was, but I saw Hinata's hand fly up to her masked face.

"It's a shockwave!" she gasped, and I could hear panic in her voice, "_Hide!_"

* * *

_Esperwen- _Ok, the chapter isn't _that _long. But it's action-y! Please review! They are like food to me. And if you give me food, I will give _you_ food! ...ok, it's just internet food. But to get that, you still have to review!


	10. Series of Confusing Events

_Espewen_- I should probably start posting more of Sakura and Ino's story...but I'm on a roll with this one, so I'm gonna keep going until I get writer's block. Also, the chapters have finally hit double digits! Yay!...? Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

-_Chapter _10 ~ _Series of Confusing Events_-

_(Pooriin Chatora)_

_(Her worst night ever)_

_(One of Team Masque's cars)_

"It's a shockwave!" Hinata gasped, and I could hear panic in her voice, "_Hide!_"

_A shockwave?_ I thought to myself, sitting up straighter in my seat, _How did she-_

"There's no time for me and Hinata," Michiko said grimly, reaching up to touch the roof of the car, "You can run."

When Matter closed her eyes, I realized exactly what she was doing.

"You're crazy!" I yelled, slapping my face's mask on before snatching an energy drink from the cooler, "Like I'm gonna leave you, you crazy person!"

There was a moment where all you could hear was me opening the drink and popping a straw in at super speed, yelling that last sentence at Michiko as I did so. I was the only one moving; Hinata was frozen and Michiko was concentrating.

Then a loud _**WHAM!**_ was heard, like something heavy was thrown against a brick wall, and the car shuddered violently. I think my mind went blank for a few seconds.

...but Michiko had done it! The car was rock solid, and the shockwave hadn't hurt any of us. My brother's car wasn't even dented.

"Make her drink this!" I urged Hinata, shoving the energy drink into her hands.

I stepped out of the car and sprinted up the side of a building, hoping to see what was attacking us. I was worried about my friends, but I was fairly certain Michiko would be smart for the rest of the night. I could trust that Michiko would only harden our entire car if she saw a shockwave coming, to save her energy. I also knew that for the rest of tonight's patrol, she would be drinking caffeine and sugar like no tomorrow (well, technically, there would _be_ no tomorrow for her, if she didn't chug down).

When I got to the top of the building, I heard another clap. I looked towards the source of the sound, and wasn't that surprised to see a smaller shockwave angled toward _me_.

_Great. Someone's aiming at me,_ I thought, running out of the wave's way, _And it looks like they're behind that dumpster across the street._

I sped down the building's fire escape and took the long way across the street. I wanted to sneak up on our attacker.

Another big wave hit the car; there was a thud, but again, no damage. I knew I had to hurry; Michiko wasn't going to last long, at this rate.

A boy about our age ran out from behind the dumpster. I couldn't see his face, because he had a hoodie and those big, aviator sunglasses on, but that wasn't what I was concerned about. He looked like he was trying to get to the car.

_You're trying to race me to the car? Seriously?_ I couldn't help but laugh a little, on the inside. I'm not arrogant, but seriously, my name is Speedy. _Speedy_!

I let him get maybe halfway. You know how when you're racing someone, and you think it's gonna be really hard, but then it turns out they can't catch up to you? And then you slow down for a second, because you think, "Hey, I'm doing this!" Yeah. Mystery shockwave boy did that.

And then I ran out and kicked his legs out from under him, knocking him down to the ground.

Seem like a low blow, to you? The guy was going to attack my friends, one of which could keel over and _die_ from lack of energy, and the other who still wasn't strong enough to go solo yet. I don't think what I did was low.

"You should've stayed hidden," I couldn't help but say, looking down at the guy.

He wasn't actually that young, now that I saw him up close. I started to think he might actually be a year or so older than me and my friends.

"Now let's see who you are."

Still moving as a blur, I snatched off his sunglasses and pulled down his hood. If he somehow managed to get away, I wanted to be able to recognize his face and find him again.

And guess what I saw?

The guy had pale, pale eyes. Just like our Hinata.

I only hesitated for a second, but for me, that's a long time. And for him, that was all he needed.

I've been kicked in the stomach before. By a guy with steel-toed boots, even. It isn't fun, and I try to avoid it whenever possible, but if I get kicked, I can usually take it.

But I have never been knocked across a street, before.

So, when that guy's kick hit me hard enough to make me fly off my feet and into a brick wall about 10 feet behind me, I was surprised. ...it had felt like a shockwave from his foot had hit my stomach.

All of Team Masque uses our abilities for a reason. Shikamaru, Temari and I fought because we needed to believe that we could do some good for our cities. Michiko fights because she hates when people get hurt. Deniizu says she fights for the high she gets off of it, but I always see her angriest when she notices someone helpless being attacked. Personally, I think those are all good reasons.

So, when I saw that the guy had a special ability, and he was using it to be a thug, I got really, really mad.

I was a little stunned from crashing into a wall, but I quickly recovered and was on my feet again. In the back of my mind, I knew that there was something familiar about that guy, but I had just hit my head, and I was upset; I wasn't my usual self. So, I didn't think much of it. The boy was already up and heading towards the car; he must have thought I was finished.

"Stay back!" I heard Michiko yell.

She did _not_ sound good.

Running as fast as I could, I soon caught up to the boy, and tackled him to the ground. Somehow, he managed to throw me off and roll over, but I was sitting on his chest in an instant, with my fist raised.

Again, the back of my mind buzzed that something was familiar about this boy. So, I hesitated again. But I still took aim at his nose.

"DON'T DO IT!"

Hinata had screamed so loudly, I was startled into stopping. Hinata was always so quiet...

Our attacker was surprised, too. He stopped glaring at me and craned his neck to look towards the car. Hinata had actually gotten out of the car, and had taken a couple stops toward the white-eyed boy and I. It was weird; I noticed that she was wearing her mask, remembering our team's rules about our disguises. Michiko was just stepping out of the other side of the car, also wearing her mask, and she didn't look happy.

"What're you doing?" Michiko asked Hinata sharply. At her angle, she couldn't see the boy's face.

"Get back in the car, Vision, this guy's dangerous," I added, raising my fist again.

"Don't tell her what to do!" the boy said angrily.

"Oh, and I suppose _you_ should?" I scoffed, turning back to him, "Who do you..." my voice trailed off when I got a good look at his face. Slowly, I was getting my mind back, "Oh..."

"You didn't r-recognize him?" Hinata stammered; she had her mask on, so I couldn't see her face, but I had a feeling she was giving me either a surprised or disappointed look.

"Why? Who is h-" Michiko stumbled around the car to stand on Hinata's side, then she slapped a palm to her forehead when she saw who our attacker was, "Ooooh, boy..."

It was Neji! Neji Hyuuga, just as angry as that time we first saw him, in the caf at school!

At first, I was speechless. Apparently, Hinata never told us that super powers ran in the Hyuuga family.

Then, I got upset again.

"Why would you attack your own cousin?!" I yelled down at him.

"H-he wasn-"

"I was not! I'll have you know that Hinata can cancel out my shockwaves," Neji said indignantly.

"You can?" both Michiko and I looked at Hinata, surprised.

"Um...y-yes. I can absorb th-them," she said softly.

"So...I just wasted all that energy for nothing?" Michiko groaned.

"Y-yes. I'm s-sorry..."

"Oh..." I started to apologize, getting off of Neji and standing, but then I realized something else, "Wait, then you were attacking _us_?!"

"Of course I was! You were putting Hinata in danger!" Neji snapped, rising from the ground with as much dignity as an angry third year could, "...and what are you making her wear?!"

"I-it's m-my uniform!" Hinata squeaked.

"I can barely hear what you're saying with that mask on! And you look ridiculous!"

"She looks cute!" Michiko gasped, putting an arm around Hinata protectively.

"My brother made that for her!" I added, frowning at him.

"Honestly, Hinata, what are you thinking?" Neji continued, glaring at both Michiko and me.

"I t-told you! I'm part of T-team Masque now!"

I had to hand it to her; she looked terrified of Neji, but she was still standing up for what she wanted.

"And I told you! I forbid it! You're my responsibiliity, and it's just not safe for you to be out like this every night!" Neji scolded.

Wow. He sounded like my other older brother, Bikto. He never let me do anything fun.

"But she isn't!" Michiko exclaimed, stepping between Neji and Hinata, "She'll only come with us if there's a vision that needs changing, and even then, Hinata will stay in the back or the car, guarded by me."

Neji thought about that for a moment. I was a little relieved; I was worried he would be like Bikto and just yell or whine until he got his way.

"You are the one that becomes like air or rock, correct?" he asked, finally, "The team's best guard."

"I...uh, yes," Michiko nodded, glancing at Hinata. So Neji knew a lot about Team Masque, too. I guessed Hinata must have told him about us.

"...You can't stay with her all the time," Neji pointed out, after a moment, "Sometimes, you will need to help fight. And Hinata is the Hyuuga Company's heiress; she needs to be kept safe."

"By who? You?" I scoffed.

"Yes," he answered promptly, in a complete deadpan.

Michiko and I stared at him for a second. He was serious!

"I have my shockwaves, and I am the captain of the martial arts team at KC High," Neji said, crossing his arms, "I have always been there to protect Hinata. I was born to take care of her. She is my responsibility."

Slowly, I was starting to understand this guy. Neji didn't hate any of us. He was just so used to being Hinata's bodyguard that he was overprotective. And I realized how hard it must have been for Hinata to disobey him and join us; that just went to show how much she wanted to be a Masque.

"_You_ can't be with Hinata all the time, either!" I pointed out.

"Even if you and Michiko worked together, you still-" Neji started to counter.

"Whoa, whoa, you know our identities?" I was shocked. I turned to Hinata, my jaw hanging open, "You _told_ him? Is _that_ why he keeps glaring at us at school?!"

"I'm s-so sorry!" Hinata wailed, covering her masked face in her hands, "I didn't m-mean to; it s-slipped out, one day!"

"What's the point in even wearing these masks?!" I moaned, opening my hands helplessly.

"I think this is the part where we have to kill him!" Michiko exclaimed.

"Michi!"

"I'm kidding! ...ok, only half kidding..."

"Neji, I told you! I'm s-staying with them! Please, s-stop ruining it!" Hinata begged her cousin, "I've n-never asked you for anything, before! L-let me have this!"

Neji frowned at her, but he kept silent for a moment. So, I guessed he understood how much this meant to her.

...maybe he really wasn't such a bad guy.

"...Then...let me join you," Neji said, finally.

"Excuse me?!" I was having a _bad_ night!

"Let me become a Masque."

"You're serious?" I looked closely at his face, then turned to my friends, "Michi, he's _serious_!"

Never mind, this guy is crazy!

"Do I look like the type of guy who jokes?" Neji said bluntly.

"But...you just attacked us!" I said, looking stunned, "Like...5 minutes ago!"

"I never attacked to kill. Only to stun. I can control my powers," Neji argued.

"Michi, say something! Tell him 'no'!"

But...she hesitated! She was actually considering letting him join!

"Michiko, c'mon! You always chase volunteers away!" I exclaimed, "That's your thing! You keep people away! Why aren't you doing it _now_?!"

"Because the people before didn't have powers!" Michiko defended, holding her hands up like I was waving a gun at her, "Or they couldn't protect themselves! Or they fought for the wrong reasons! This time is different!"

"I have shockwaves. I'm strong; I can protect myself and other people," Neji paused, then mumbled, "...And I just want to make sure my cousin is safe."

"Pooriin, he's right," Michiko sighed, playing with her bangs, "I can't stay with Hinata 100% of the time, and neither can Deniizu. We always knew that taking complete care of her was impossible. We need Neji."

...I did _not_ like this plan. But it was true. Neji _would_ be a great asset to Team Masque. And I knew that most of the reason I didn't want Neji around was because he had just attacked us with giant, sonic blasts. And the sonic blasts were justified: he was trying to protect Hinata. And Michiko and I both knew that at any other time, I would have welcomed Neji to our team with open arms.

"...You're right," I sighed, then gave Neji an apologetic smile, "We do need you."

"I won't let you down," Neji nodded stiffly, "When do I start?"

"Not so fast."

Just then, a chilling breeze blew through the street. We all heard someone clear their throat, and looking up towards the sound, we saw Deniizu, sitting on a nearby fire escape. She didn't look mad, but she didn't look pleased, either. Suddenly, I felt very, very tired.

"Yeah, Neji..." I sighed again, "Now you have to convince Deniizu to let you join. Good luck with that."

~*~

_(Kiba Inuzuka)  
_

_(A couple days after the shoot-out incident)_

_(KC High's caf)_

I knew from the beginning that 'grounding' Michiko every Wednesday wasn't one of the smartest, nicest things I've ever thought up, but I still don't regret it. I hardly get to see my family as it is, since we all have school or work. And soon, my mom's going to let Michiko get a job. I only get one class with Michiko, and that's Gym, and we're at opposite side of the gym or field, anyway, so that barely counts.

So, like I said, I don't regret grounding Michiko. I'm not gonna lie; I'm really picky about what she does and who she's with. I worry about her. See, I managed to get a glimpse of her social worker's file. For some reason, she always seemed to be the one that got bullied, or pushed around, at school. And she was never the one to report it; it was always her friends who stepped in. Especially that Deniizu...after reading her file, I may have started grounding her, but I stopped bugging Michiko about Deniizu.

One Wednesday, at lunch, after a really long-ass lecture on parabolas, I walked into the caf, expecting to need to drag Michiko away from her friends, again. I mean, for the first few weeks, I literally had to drag her away from her friends to make her sit with me. Imagine my surprise when I saw Michiko already at the Protectors; lunch table, talking to Naruto about some TV show.

"...and then he opened the guy's skull with his mind, and then he ate the guy's brain!" Naruto finished, his face all lit up and everything, like he'd just told her the most awesome story ever.

"That's horrible!" Michiko gasped, clapping her hands to the sides of her face.

"So. Freakin'. Cool!" Naruto laughed, then he waved to me as I got close, "Hey, Kiba!"

I said, "Hey," back, as I sat across the table from Michiko. Gaara was there, sitting across from Naruto and silently watching and listening to everything. As Naruto and Michiko continued talking, I managed to catch Michiko's eye. I think she got that I was silently thanking her for sitting with us, because she nodded back to me; I made a mental note to do something extra nice for her when we got home.

"Look at all the freaks, sitting at their table together," I heard a familiar girl's voice say.

"Losers!" a second girl laughed.

It was Tayuya and her friend, Rin, I knew. They were the type of girls who were hot, knew it, and thought it made them better than everyone else. And they weren't like Karin and her group of friends, who were all talk; Rin and Tayuya were bullies who knew how to fight.

Glancing at Gaara, I saw a corner of his mouth turn down. Knowing him, I could tell he was thinking of going Sand on their asses. But, of course, he knew teaching two girls some manners wasn't worth blowing his cover, so he let it go.

"I always knew Naruto was a useless punk," Tayuya sneered; looking up, I saw that she was smirking at the back of his head, "And look, now he's sitting with people just like him. Way to make some friends!"

I sort of expected Naruto to jump up and yell at them by now, since he was that kinda guy, but he hadn't heard anything they said. He was still talking about that stupid TV show. I wondered if it was nice, living in Naruto's world.

"That new girl must either be really stupid, or a _major_ freak, 'cause she's always sitting with them," Rin added, and Tayuya snickered that she agreed.

"She's a worthless moron."

I think Michiko heard that, because her forehead wrinkled up and she bit her lip like she was hurt. But it was only for a second; soon she brushed it off and was laughing with Naruto again. She was used to the bullying, by now.

We all were. Every day in the caf, some kid was always getting shoved into a wall, stolen from, or just getting some attitude by some idiots who thought they were so damn important. Idiots like Tayuya, Kidoumaru, or Karin's Screw Crew. And it didn't stop when we left the caf; the hallways, sometimes during class, and especially on the street, the abuse always continued.

Sure, there were kids like us, the Protectors, who wanted to help out. But even the people we rescued would sometimes have attitude problems. Most of the time, once we call the bullies off, the victims wonder why we did it. They say they weren't asking for help, or why that was any of our business in the first place. Sometimes, they just run away, like they thought _we_ were gonna hurt them, too. And lately, some of them on the street have been saying, "Aw, you're not even part of Team Masque!" like they were expecting a celebrity but were stuck with boring, normal, _real_ us.

And then there were kids that just didn't care what was happening around them. There were the jocks like Rock Lee or Neji Hyuuga, who just worried about the next game or tournament, not about their classmates. ...of course, I always cut them some slack; if I didn't have my teleporting powers, I'd probably be one of them. Sports would have been my way of escaping how rotten our city really was.

And then there were the popular kids, like Ino Yamanaka, the Gossip Queen, or 'Prince' Sasuke Uchiha and 'Princess' Sakura Haruno, the perfect couple that everyone watched and nobody was actually friends with. They lived in a freakin' bubble. Everything was all perfect with them, and that pissed me off when I thought about it.

And you wanna know why it bugged me so much? Those kids have never had to work for anything! The Uchihas have their own business, and Sakura's father is Konoha City's top lawyer! But me, and my friends, and let's face it, the rest of the school? We need to work for everything!

And I've never heard of anything bad happening to the preps, either. All of them are rich, have both parents, are smart, are talented...and look at us Protectors:

As soon as Gaara turned 16, he and Kankurou moved out into their own apartment to get away from some deadbeat, lazy foster family. They've been orphans for years, now. And, without his brother, Gaara has to come up with money to pay rent on his own. He's just barely getting by, as it is.

By now, I noticed that Michiko had been staring at me for a while. I realized I'd been frowning and hadn't touched my lunch. I shrugged at her and reached for my sandwich so she'd stop looking at me. It worked; by the time I'd taken a second bite, Michiko was back to talking to Naruto.

Naruto had problems, too. He used to be sick all the time as a little kid. Leukemia isn't contagious, which is why my mom let me play with him or visit, but most moms made their kids stay away from him in case they caught what Naruto had. They were so stupid. Now, Naruto's a guy who tries way too hard to get people's attention, either by goofing off in class or picking fights. And it doesn't help that his marine dad has been MIA since July. He's had it rough his whole life.

At this point, Shino finally got to our table with a lunch tray.

"Hey, man, what took you so long?" I asked, moving so that his usual seat beside Gaara was free, "Lunch is half over."

"Dentist appointment this morning," Shino shrugged, and for some reason he sat across from me, between Naruto and Michiko, ignoring his usual spot.

Which reminds me about Shino. His mom died four years ago in a car crash; she was the only parent that ever paid him any attention. Now that she's gone, Shino's stuck with a father he barely knows, and who's basically never home. Shino once staked out an apartment for three days straight, and his father either didn't notice or didn't care.

Like I said. Every single Protector has felt how bad life can get in this city. That's why we fight; so that other people don't have to feel it.

"Bro, are you ok?"

I blinked when Michiko's voice brought me back to reality. She had this funny look on her face.

"Yeah. Just remembering stuff," I answered, then took a bit of my sandwich and said with my mouth full, "Why?"

"You looked pissed, man," Naruto answered for her, also giving me a weird look.

"I'm not," I said, then smirked, "Damn Chatora isn't anywhere near here. Why would I be pissed?"

"Bro..." Michiko gave me this 'wounded puppy' look that she knew I hated.

"What's wrong with your face?" I growled, "You know I don't like her or her brothers."

"She's my friend."

"She's Koshinu's daughter."

"That doesn't mean anything about her, and you know-"

"_**Aaah!**_"

"You bitch!"

"Lemme go!"

Everyone in the caf turned to the centre of the room to see who had screamed. I expected to see a cat fight or something, since I had heard girls screeching. Instead, I saw Deniizu beating the crap out of Karin and two members of her Screw Crew.

"...Whoa," Naruto breathed, watching Deniizu pull one girl's hair and punch the other's face, while tripping Karin, all at the same time, "Girl knows how to fight!"

I saw Gaara raise an eyebrow interestedly while Shino shook his head slowly. Michiko started running to Deniizu, this worried look on her face. As for me...

"GO DENIIZU!" I yelled, raising my arms over my head, "Kick her in the ovaries!"

"Kiba! Stop!" Michiko scolded over her shoulder, before running faster. I decided to follow her to get a closer look.

"Deniizu, cut it out!" Chatora was yelling, trying to pull Deniizu off of Karin's brunette friend.

"What're you doing?!" Michiko gasped, grabbing one of Deniizu's arms once she got close enough; already there was a crowd gathering.

"_She!_ She!" Deniizu spat, yanking her arm back, "She said that you...and they _laughed_! ...she freakin' said...!"

"It's ok! I can take it; it's no big deal!" Michiko said quickly, standing in the middle between Deniizu and Karin's group, "Deniizu, you have to stop-"

"What's going on, here?!" a man's voice rang out, from the doors off the caf.

Deniizu stopped struggling, and the Chatora let her go. Slowly, the half-formed crowd parted, and this weird-looking blue guy stepped forward. That man was tall, had big arms, and was blue.

_Damn,_ I thought.

All of the girls who had been in the fight where in the center of the crowd. When the blue guy (he was blue!) walked right up to Michiko and glared down at her, I realized that she was right in the middle of the group.

_Aw, crap!_ I thought.

"...h-hello? ...sir?" Michiko said quietly, her face going pale when she saw the guy was like a foot taller than her.

The blue guy (BLUE!) didn't speak for a moment. He just started at her, like he was sizing her up. Finally, he spoke, in this low, creepy voice.

"State your name, girl."

"Michiko. ...s-sir," she squeaked, her arms slowly wrapping around her like she was hugging herself. She was freaking out. I didn't blame her; I was freaking out, and I was just watching.

Then the blue guy (He. Was. Blue) spoke again, loud enough for the whole cafe to hear. He even startled Michiko enough to make her jump a little.

"My name is Kisame Hoshigaki! You brats can call me Kisame, and be sure to end all your sentences in 'sir'. I've been assigned as KC High's new hall monitor! Since today is my first day, I'm letting Miss Michiko here off with a warning. But tomorrow...hehe, well..." he sneered at us, then; I couldn't help but notice his really, really sharp teeth, "I suggest you say your prayers, tonight."

_Holy...!_ I thought, as Kisame turned on his heel and walked out of the room. I shared a look with Michiko, and saw that she was thinking the same thing I was.

_What the __hell__ just happened?

* * *

_

_Esperwen_- End of chapter. lol, I love Kisame...anyway, now that you have read, please review. kthxbai.


	11. Konoha is Not a Safe Place

_Esperwen_- Sorry, guys; I'm a couple days late... D= Some stuff happened, and then some other things came up, and then omg, nothing happened on Valentine's Day, and then there was family, and then GAAAAH. So, I'm late. To make it up to you, I will update again this Friday! So...read!

* * *

-_Chapter _11 ~ _Konoha is Not a Safe Place_-

_(Shino Aburame)_

_(Late October)_

_(Maito Dojo)_

Many things happened, that week. First, there was that shoot-out that ended in Michiko nearly collapsing. Then, two days later, the Kisame and Michiko fiasco in the caf. And the day after, Naruto needed me to drive across the city, to pick him up after his martial arts class. This was so that he could get in another hour or so of training before going on patrol, rather than spending all that time on the bus. Normally, I would consider all that a waste of time, gas, and mileage; one more hour of training was not going to help him that much. But not that day.

I arrived at the Maito Dojo about 15 minutes early. I parked my father's car and entered the huge building, mildly surprised that Naruto's mother could afford to send him to a dojo with such a large, elaborate koi pond and greenhouse garden in its front anteroom. Kiba could barely afford the few lessons he took at the Ebisu Dojo, a run-down old gym in the centre of downtown Konoha. This gym looked a lot like a modernized temple. Perhaps because it specialized in martial arts.

_I should have aimed to arrive a little late,_ I thought to myself, walking slowly through the gym's indoor garden to the gym/martial arts studio's main corridor, _I hate waiting...and Naruto is usually late, anyway._

"Your form is all wrong! Lower your left arm!"

"My form is perfect! You just don't wanna teach me more than the basics!"

I could hear a student arguing with her instructor. Probably not the wisest thing to do; my philosophy is that if an instructor actually tells you how to change something, rather than just yell at you, he probably knows what he is doing. But, of course, students refusing to pay attention to their teachers was a common occurrence in Konoha City.

Then I heard a crash. And not just any crash; I was certain I heard something explode. This was not so common. Suddenly, my interest was piqued.

The two voices came from behind a closed door, at the very back of the dojo, far from all the other rooms. Glancing at my watch, I saw I still had 12 minutes before Naruto would start expecting me, so I decided to see what was going on in that room.

Quietly, I moved to the door, and carefully, I opened the door just a crack, so that I had a thin strip to look through. Peeking inside, I saw a girl about my age with her hair up in two buns, and a teacher with a strange cloth headpiece that covered the left side of his face. The two of them were sparring with wooden nunchucks. They seemed to be the only ones in the room. I wondered why; all the other classes seemed to have at least 15 people in each room.

I used to watch martial arts tournaments, when I was still in elementary school; the girl's form was actually quite good. Perhaps even perfect. As I watched, I saw that she had already developed a natural flow between stances.

But they were the same, basic stances over and over again. The girl's face grew grimmer and grimmer as she continued to lose her patience. In a way, I understood her annoyance; repeating the same movements many times over and over again could drive any person insane.

"I hate this!" the girl growled, such a tough tone sounding out of place when spoken with such a high voice.

"Tenten, patience..." the teacher warned sternly.

"But this is boring!" Tenten yelled, hitting out with both nunchucks, and easily getting blocked and stopped.

"Tenten, calm down!" the teacher scolded, both of them moving back into beginning stances.

They looked as if they would start fighting again, but at that moment, all three of us noticed a change in the weapon Tenten was holding.

The nunchucks had started to glow pink, around Tenten's hands.

"You need to calm down, right now!" the teacher barked, taking a step towards his student.

"I'm _trying,_ Baki-sensei!" Tenten snapped, a slight quaver in her voice, possibly indicating fear.

"Take a deep breath-"

"I am!"

"...and push away your angry feelings-" Baki tried again.

"I'm breathing, and I'm pushing! And it's _not working_!" a note of panic entered into her voice.

_What's going on?_ I thought to myself, sensing something was going to wrong very quickly.

I glanced around the hall, and then at my watch. I had eight minutes left, and nobody was in the hall. I decided to act quickly. Within a few seconds, my long coat and sunglasses were hidden behind a pedestal that displayed an ornamental urn; tying Konoha City's symbol onto my forehead, I was Insect once more.

I looked back into the private training room. Tenten's nunchucks were now completely pink and glowing. She and her teacher were looking back and forth between the glowing training weapon and each other, not really sure what to do.

"Tenten, you have to stop!"

"You think I'm _not trying?!_"

That last outburst pushed Tenten over the edge. In a split second, the glowing shifted from pink to white. Tenten flung the weapon at the last second, away from the door and her teacher. When the nunchucks hit the wall at the back of the room, another crashing explosion was heard, identical to the one I'd heard earlier. When the resulting smoke cleared, I noticed that the whole back wall had several burnt patches, the shapes of which all looked similar.

_She energizes objects so that they explode?_ I thought to myself, _...fascinating..._

"...I cannot in good conscience teach you more, until you learn to control...that!" Baki said sternly, motioning a hand towards the still-smoking while as he glared at Tenten.

"_That's_ why you won't teach me?!" Tenten exclaimed, "I'm not dangerous, if that's what you're saying!"

"You are," the teacher insisted firmly, shaking his head, "There is a reason we train our students' minds, as well as their bodies. We teach control, and you, Tenten, are lacking it!"

"I'm not dangerous!"

I decided at this point that it was time to step in.

"You are dangerous," I interjected, making my entrance and closing the room's door behind me.

"...omigosh!" Tenten's jaw dropped. ...to be honest, she did not say that; she swore a few words, but her voice and face made her curses seem incongruous.

"Wait, you're..." Baki's eyes narrowed, "What is a Protector doing here? Tenten has done nothing wrong!"

"Are you arresting me?"

Tenten's eyes widened, and quickly, she grabbed a quarterstaff that was leaning against a wall; now that I could see the whole room, I noticed that there were racks of various weapons along the two side walls.

"Well, you can't!" Tenten snapped, holding the staff between us at the ready, "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Nothing wrong? Perhaps not yet. But you are going to, if you continue to let your power run wild," I said calmly, crossing my arms, "And you know this. You're afraid of what your power does."

"I am _not_ afraid!" Tenten yelled, taking a step towards me.

I simply shook my head, and pointed at the staff in her hands. We all could see that it was starting to glow pink.

"...dammit," Tenten muttered, dropping the staff to the floor (thankfully, it stopped glowing and did not explode), and then she stomped her food and yelled, "Dammit! FML!"

"She's been struggling with her ability for weeks, now," Baki explained to me, crossing his arms, "We have been trying to keep this a secret, so I do not know how you found out about her, but..." the man sighed, "She is one of my best students. Can you help her?"

Tenten stopped stomping around to glare at me. It was as if she was challenging me.

"You think you can fix me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"'Fix'? Your power may never go away. My team and I are able to train you," I corrected, shrugging slowly, "We can help you learn how to control your power. But at a price."

"When can I start?" Tenten asked, frowning at me.

"Tenten! Listen to his terms!" Baki scolded, and personally, I thought he was right to do so; agreeing like that was very foolhardy of her. Kiba and Naruto would probably become fast friends with her.

"Fine, what's the catch?" Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Watch your attitude!" Baki ordered.

"Why should I?!" Tenten snapped, balling her hands into fists as she turned to face her teacher again, "I'm dangerous, aren't I? I can't even eat, if I'm too angry, because my food will probably blow up in my face! And what's more, I haven't learned any new moves here! I'm sick of living like this! I'll do anything if it'll get my synergy under control!"

"Does that include becoming a Protector?"

The martial arts master and his pupil finally stopped arguing with each other to look at me.

"...come again?" Tenten asked, that angry look of hers finally relaxing.

"You want her to what?" Baki frowned.

"You believed we would train you for free? Perhaps just say 'You owe us one' and let you go? I know my team, and they will not train someone with such potential, if only to let them walk away," I explained, knowing that Gaara only provided help for free if there was some kind of immediate threat, and Kiba wouldn't like the risk that Tenten might switch over to Team Masque if we let her go. Naruto, on the other hand, probably wouldn't care.

Surprisingly, neither of them said anything. They were mute with shock, for a change. I took this to be a good sign; this meant that they understood the risks that we Protectors took every time we patrolled the streets.

"You both realize what I ask, and this is a good thing," I nodded, "Tenten, I give you until next week to decide. If you do not give me an answer by then, I will assume you chose to handle things your own way."

I looked at the back wall and frowned to myself. I could see charred craters in the walls plaster, and melted fibreglass that was supposed to be part of the wall's insulation. Tenten's 'synergy', as she called it, had extreme destructive power. For everyone's sake, I hoped Tenten would agree to let us Protectors train her, though I wished that she was not obligated to join us. But I knew this was the only way I could help her.

With a nod, I turned to leave. Naruto was probably wondering where I was, by now.

"Wait!" Tenten said quickly, stopping me when my hand touched the door's handle, "Should I meet you somewhere?"

"No," I answered promptly, pushing the door open, "You must find me."

I would not let her risk dying on patrol if her resolve to train with us was weak. If she put in enough effort to find me, in order to join the Protectors, then I would know she was serious. If not...I certainly hoped that I had emphasized the fact that she was, in fact, dangerous, enough to take her mental training more seriously.

Naruto was not anywhere in sight when I got out of the training room, so I was able to put my coat and sunglasses on in peace. I didn't think Gaara would be upset for too long when he found out I was trying to recruit someone; I knew he trusted my judgment substantially more than he did Kiba's, and when Kiba approached him about Naruto, he hadn't shot the idea down completely, right away. However, I still decided to call Kiba to discuss ways I could lighten the news when I gave it to Gaara; our leader would still need convincing, after all.

And Gaara had been less trusting than usual, lately; Kankurou had always been the one to bring Gaara around, and Kiba and I were at a bit of a loss for what to do or say if we wanted to change Gaara's mind.

An unpleasant jolt came over me when I felt how much I missed Kankurou; that feeling still hadn't gone away over the past couple months. And almost instantly, I shoved the feeling away, just like all the times before. Gaara had lost a brother, and Kiba had been much closer to Kankurou than I had ever been. They were holding out just fine, so I had no right to mope.

As I had those thoughts, I found myself dialing Michiko's phone, instead of Kiba's. At first, I meant to hang up and call the right number, but then I hit 'call', instead. Perhaps I could drop Naruto off at the Protectors' base to train alone, and study with Michiko for a few hours, before patrol. It was strange, but even when I was annoyed with her, the world seemed just a little brighter when I was near her.

~*~

_(Deniizu)_

_(Even later October)_

Team Masque had everything going great! We hadn't been in the city for that much more than a month, and already we had two new members! And, their powers were _awesome_.

Hinata had been trying for years to get her foresight to work, but her visions were random, no matter what she tried. _But, _we soon learned that she could get random visions of specific people if she focused on them long enough. We were trying to use that to find out the Protectors' true identities, but her visions about them were still vague. ...For now, anyway; her visions always got clearer, over time.

Hinata's long-sightedness was pretty good, too. It worked better if she was linked somehow to the person she was looking for, like if they were friends, but I was pretty confident her power would come in handy if someone went missing or was kidnapped.

Neji, our newest member, was pretty strong, too. He didn't have foresight, or farsight, but he _did_ get strong feelings that something bad was going to happen, to people he knew. It was like a sixth sense; he always knew when someone was about to attack Hinata, and where it was going to happen, right down to the address of the building. And, what was even better, he didn't have to be there to fix the problem; Hinata may need to be around to change one of her visions, but anybody could go check on Neji's hunches. The only problem was that he couldn't control this sense at all. Either he got a bad feeling, or he didn't.

That's how he found Pooriin, Michiko and Hinata, that day when we first found out he had powers. He knew that Hinata was going to be in danger, when Michiko took her out on patrol, so he was able to locate them when Pooriin picked them up. Seriously, what Michiko did was so stupid. She wanted to give Hinata a taste of what patrol was like, so she ended up dragging Hinata around with her, for the night. She even kept Hinata supersolid/airy for hours, to keep her safe, so by the time I caught up with them, Michiko was exhausted. It was a good thing nothing much happened, that night...

It was also a good thing the streets were basically empty, by the time Neji got around to 'fighting' Pooriin and Michiko. Nobody noticed him, or his crazy ability: his shockwaves. They were kind of like a beefed up version of Hinata's pulses. Hinata had to touch people wth the palms of her hands to make her pulses work, but Neji didn't. When he clapped his hands, a more powerful, flat shockwave was made; these were the kind that you could jump over or duck under, kind of like an invisible disk or something is thrown at you. If he just released energy from his hands or feet, or even his entire body, a slightly weaker, but harder to dodge, shockwave was made. Michiko let Neji hit her with both kinds of wave while she braced herself, to test out how strong he was. She said she felt like she was hit by a car when Neji didn't clap; when he _did_ clap, she said it felt like a truck. The only problem was that Neji had to have bare hands for a full-effect shockwave; anything touching his skin would cancel out at least half of the wave's power. Also, if Hinata came in contact with one of Neji's shockwaves, she canceled it out completely. It was like he was born to protect his cousin, and she was born to keep him in check.

I thought Neji and Hinata's powers were the coolest things I'd ever seen. I was excited; I had a feeling that with enough training, Neji would be able to level buildings, and Hinata would be strong enough to throw people across rooms.

Not that she ever would. Hinata didn't take very good care of herself. Pooriin managed to find out from people at school about how Hinata was bullied at school, but she never tried to talk to anyone about it. Nobody ever touched Hinata, but they did talk her down and swear at her. This was why she was so shy, now.

I asked Neji about it, and he said that things were much worse for her when he graduated to high school, and Hinata was left alone in a different school for a year. Because he wasn't around, people actually got the chance to beat on her.

It was because she was such an easy target! She didn't talk back or call for help; she just took it. She was used to treatment like that. I'd followed her home one night, to see what her family was like. Her father either ignored her or lectured her for the littlest things, even saying how much of a disappointment she was, especially as his heiress. I hated him. He was one reason Neji was so protective over Hinata; if Hinata wasn't safe at home, Neji figured she couldn't be much safer away from it.

But she was safe with us. We, Team Masque, could protect her. Not too long after Hinata joined us, I figured we needed a better headquarters; the cathedral we used to meet on the roof of was way too open, and the Hyuugas couldn't train their powers there. After a few days, I found an abandoned hotel, which was closer to the center of the city, and, more importantly, it was more private. The whole area was full of closed shops that had run out of business, so nobody even drove through the area. It was a really secret place. When I found it, I hoped that Hinata would eventually consider it to be the safest place she could be. She needed a place like that...

~*~

_(Michiko)_

_(Early November)_

_(Team Masque's HQ)_

It had been maybe one and a half weeks since Neji had joined our team. All five of us were in the gym of our headquarters (a hotel that Deniizu had found about two weeks before). Neji and Hinata were training their pulse/shockwave control with Pooriin; Hinata would propel an object (in that case, it was an old coffee can) through the air, Neji would make a shockwave to send it back to her as fast as he could, and Pooriin would try to run in and grab the object. It was like volleyball keep-up meets really easy monkey-in-the-middle for Pooriin; she still had to go easy on them, because they still couldn't move the can all that quickly. To be fair, Deniizu and I would have had trouble catching the object, had we been in Pooriin's place. All of us were in our uniforms (part of training was being familiar with your costume, so that during actual fighting, you were used to any extra fabric), except for Neji; his costume hadn't come in, yet.

"...Neji?"

I had been studying 'Macbeth' for English class, while Deniizu was writing a letter to Shika and Temari in Oto City. When I heard the coffee can clatter onto the floor, the both of us looked up, startled.

"Um...are you ok?"

When I heard Hinata sound concerned, I put my playbook away, figuring it must be something important. Deniizu didn't move, though; she doesn't really like Neji much. They're both really stubborn people, and they argued with each other over just about everything ("It's too cold!" "No, it's too hot!" "I'm tired!" "Keep moving!" "It's gonna rain!" "No, it's just cloudy!"), so they tended to stay out of each others' way.

The hotel used to have a gym/fitness centre, and my teammates had been training inside the dried up pool; it kind of looked like a tennis court with extra lines, that was 4-8 feet in the floor. I hurried over from my place at one of the poolside chairs to check on the others. Neji had frozen where he was, facing the doors, with this worried frown on his face. Pooriin was waving a hand in front of his face, but it was like he couldn't see her.

"Neji? Hey, Neji, can you hear me?" Pooriin asked, knocking on his forehead.

"Yes, I can hear you," Neji answer, sounding annoyed, but never turning to look at her.

"Is he having one of his 'danger sensing' moments, again?" I asked as I jumped into the pool.

"I think so..." Hinata nodded, pulling on Neji's arm, trying to get him to move on his own, again.

He was just frozen. Like something had gotten hold of his mind and was keeping him from doing anything other than think about it. He didn't even blink.

"I have to go," Neji said, nodding once, "This is important; I can't train anymore."

"Why, what's wrong?" Pooriin asked seriously, no longer knocking to see if Neji was home.

"It's Inari," Neji finally blinked, looked first at Pooriin, then Hinata, and then moved towards the ladder out of the pool, "He's going to be in trouble. I have to go to him."

"Hang on," I said, putting a hand on Neji's arm, stopping him, "Inari Tsunami? He's in my neighbourhood; how do you know him?"

"I used to tutor him," Neji explained, pulling his arm away, "I need to find him; he's just a kid!"

"You can't go," Deniizu said, finally putting her pen down and joining us, "Your costume isn't ready yet; you might be recognized."

"I have a mask," Neji frowned at her, "And I hate that costume!"

Goudon and Pooriin figured that Neji would look best with a white and black hakama for his uniform. I thought it was a good idea, since aikido was Neji's favourite fighting style, and you wear a hakama for aikido, but Neji thought it was stupid. He was still going to wear his uniform, but only because we told him he couldn't fight with us unless he did.

"Well, you're not leaving HQ and fighting without it!" Deniizu snapped, glaring at Neji.

The rest of us shared looks; if we didn't do something quick, they would keep fighting until it was too late to help Inari.

"How about this: I'll go," I suggested, putting an arm between Deniizu and Neji to get their attention, "You guys can stay and write letters or train, and I'll see this thing through."

"Wait, wait, wait," Pooriin waved her arms for attention "Don't you have to study? The English midterms are coming up!"

"English is one of my good subjects," I answered, smiling at her, "I'll be fine," I looked at Neji and Deniizu, "So, how about it? Can I go?"

The two of them sized each other up for a moment. I was pretty sure they were both upset that neither of them got to win this argument.

"...Fine," Deniizu nodded, turning around and heading back to her letter, "Neji, tell her where it is."

Neji frowned at Deniizu, who was now ignoring him. ...ok, so maybe Deniizu sort of won. I pretended there wasn't a lot of negative feelings in the room and just looked at Neji, waiting for directions.

"...it'll be around 10th Avenue and Morrison," Neji answered, almost sighing, "Southwest from here."

"Ok," I nodded, hurrying to my stuff and grabbing my mask before heading towards the doors, "Time to get to work!"

* * *

_Esperwen_- Wow, how many times did I spell 'martial' as 'marital'? (Hilarious!) See, this is why we proofread before posting... Again, I'm sorry for being late. Post a reply-able review, and I'll send you internet food!


	12. What Matters

_Esperwen_- Hah, I bet you didn't think I'd update, today. Well, you were wrong! OHOHOHOHO~!

* * *

_-Chapter 12 ~ What Matters-_

_(Michiko)_

_(Early November, Nighttime)  
_

_(10th Ave. & Morrison Rd.)_

10th Avenue and Morrison ended up being an old church. When I got there, I hid on the roof and waited, hoping that I was just early, not too late. Inari was a good kid...a little loud, but good. I didn't want anything to happen to him.

...now that I had a moment to think about it, our neighbourhood had a lot of loud kids. Kiba was pretty loud. Hana was loud. Naruto was _definitely_ loud. ...was _I _that loud?! Was that why I got along so well with all of them?!

After some waiting, I saw three guys and one girl swagger down the street. As they sat at the church's front steps, I guessed that maybe they were all high schoolers, or just starting college. Then the girl lit a cigarette, and the glow from her lighter showed me all four of their faces. I recognized all of them; Team Masque had run into them before. They called themselves the Sound Four, for some reason.

One was Kidoumaru, their leader, and of course KC High's biggest bully. My friends and I called him 'Spiderman' behind his back, for his tall and skinny-ness. Because he's tall and skinny.

Then there was his girlfriend/bffl/bully-buddy, Tayuya. She's really pretty, but she's also really mean. And at school, it's harder to do stuff about her, because she doesn't hit, or anything; she just swears at you and makes mean, cutting remarks. With someone who hits people, you can fight back to protect yourself; with someone who emotionally abuses you, all you can do is glare or walk away. And, throwing insults back at them isn't my style...it's like stooping to their level.

Jirobou was a big, sumo-type of guy. I still don't understand why he hangs out with them; he's a pretty laid-back guy. He's even put in the effort to get into a college; how does he even find time between classes and homework to terrorize people on the street? Maybe he's just bored...

There was also Sakon, with them. ...or maybe it was Ukon. They're identical twin brothers. Technically, their group should be called the 'Sound Five', because the twins are really two people, but they never come out to fight at the same time. ...Well, they _are_ high school seniors; maybe they tag-team homework and bullying?

_Are they staking the church out?_ I thought to myself, watching as Kidoumaru started playing with a switchblade that he owned, _Or maybe we've found their base?_

"Are you sure it's here?" Sakon/Ukon asked, playing with some brass knuckles that he'd produced from his pocket.

"It's almost midnight," Kidoumaru nodded, glaring at Jirobou, "Are you sure he'll be here?"

"Trust me, I'm sure," Jirobou nodded, crossing his arms to emphasize how big and muscular he was, "My sources said he comes here every year, and my sources are never wrong."

_So it _was_ a stakeout..._

At that moment, I saw movement down another road. A boy who was about 12 years old was biking towards us.

"There he is," Kidoumaru nodded, this ugly sneer on his face as Ukon/Sakon motioned for the rest of the gang to stand up.

The boy on the bike had short, black hair, sticking out under a blue-striped, white helmet. As he rode a simple, gray bike, a harmless-looking, chubby puppy was running beside him. I nodded to myself at that moment; that was definitely Inari Tsunami. Why was Kidoumaru's gang waiting for this middle schooler, I wondered.

Inari saw the group waiting for him, but he didn't turn around and escape, like I'd hoped. He actually tried biking past them, but Jirobou grabbed the handlebars of his bike and completely stopped him.

"Whaddaya want?" Inari grumbled, glaring straight at Kidoumaru.

"Yo!" Spiderman grinned, taking his time to walk up to the kid, "Nice night to visit your old man's grave, huh?"

"Lay off, Kidoumaru!" Inari frowned, getting off his bike and facing his opponent squarely, "Nobody in our neighbourhood's scared of you anymore!"

His dog even growled, for good measure. I wondered if that was how Bro was, as a kid. ...I also wondered if Hana would be as worried as I was if she had seen Kiba do something like that. Kidoumaru might be the skinniest guy there, but he was still pretty strong!

I really hoped that Kidoumaru would just threaten Inari and leave. I knew it wouldn't happen, because Neji had had a hunch that something very bad was going to happen, but I hoped it, anyway.

"Yeah, I heard about that," Kidoumaru sneered, getting closer with ever cocky step he took forward, "But y'know what? I think it's all a freakin' lie!"

"It's true!" Inari snapped, and his dog growled louder, "A Protector is watching over our neighbourhood! He said he's gonna deal with bad guys personally; he's our own hero!"

"Gimmie a break," Ukon/Sakon/that guy rolled his eyes, then sneered at Inari, "Your hero's nothing but a prick! He doesn't know how to keep his nose out of the Sound Four's business!"

I saw Tayuya pull a knife out of one of her sleeves. Twin ??? also rounded on Inari.

"So, we're gonna make an example out of you, the neighbourhood's #1 Protector fan!" Kidoumaru laughed, a horrible, crazy look on his face.

Now Inari was surrounded by them. I'd seen enough.

"Leave him alone!" I ordered, standing up on the roof and letting the wind blow my hair and skirt, so that I made a flowing, pretty silhouette against the moon.

...I'll admit it; I like my uniform. I feel pretty. Also, I'm supposed to be a superhero, right? If the moon is in the right place, and the right size, I _will _take advantage of it. And I couldn't help but feel a little bit of satisfaction when I saw that I'd startled all of the Sound Four. Sometimes, a dramatic entrance helps.

"It's Matter, one of Team Masque!" Kidoumaru growled, "She's been stalking me ever since she came to this city!"

That was only half true. I fought him a lot, but only because we lived in the same area. And because he caused a lot of trouble.

"What can I say? I hate bullies like you," I shrugged, keeping my voice emotionless.

"Hey, I don't want _your_ help!" Inari yelled, gathering all attention back to him, "Go away!"

I stared at the boy, a little surprised. What happened to my mini-Kiba? And it was a little weird that he cared who gave him help.

"The Protectors are the real heroes, not Team Masque!" Inari explained, as I started to float down from the church's roof. I saw Jirobou start to laugh.

"How about that?" Ukon/Sakon chuckled, "Miss Masque here isn't wanted!"

"Get out of here!" Inari yelled, waving an arm at me, "There aren't any cameras! Nobody's watching! What're you staying for?!"

"I expect she's here to help you," a boy's low voice spoke from the dark skies.

In an instant, a blur jumped down into the circle, beside Inari.

"As am I," Insect growled, grabbing the boy and jumping out of the circle with him.

The Sound Four visibly paled as they watched Insect land softly beside me, placing Inari behind us both before turning to face the gang.

"Wait, what about my dog?!" Inari exclaimed, not refusing help from a Protector, I noticed.

Kidoumaru was reaching down to grab the dog as Inari said that, but at the last moment, he felt my glare on him. He hesitated for a split second, and the dog ran between his legs to stand safely beside his master.

"You're no match for us," Kidoumaru spat, pulling a second switchblade out.

"There's four of us and only f(censored!)ing two of you, bitches!" Tayuya added, brandishing her own weapon.

"Watch your tongue," Jiroubou muttered, "It's unsightly when a girl swears..."

"F(bleep!) off!" she screamed back, among other things. I turned back and put my hands over Inari's ears, and for once, he didn't refuse my help.

"I've had enough of you!" Kidoumaru snapped, glaring at me, "Let's end this!"

"Glad to know we feel the same way," I smiled, turned back toward him, "Bring it on!"

That did it; all four of them charged us at once.

Shino and I made short work of them; neither of us really enjoy fighting. I stayed a couple steps back so that I could better protect Inari. Insect threw Sakon (or was it Ukon?) backwards once he got too close; it helped that he was a coward and ran away the first chance he got. Insect then took care of Kidoumaru and Tayuya, leaving Jirobou to me.

"Out of my way, little girl," Jirobou frowned, looming over me, "Give me the boy."

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" I wondered, holding my ground. I noticed that Insect gave a good punch to Tayuya's gut, at that moment.

"Inari's the Protectors' #1 fan," Jirobou reminded me.

"They think that if I'm gone, the Protectors will take them seriously," Inari explained, picking up his dog to keep it close.

"And what, get scared and run away?" I scoffed, keeping a tough front; the kid was getting anxious, poor guy. If I were targeted by four big, violent people, I'd be a little worried, too. But, sometimes when you run your mouth, that's what happens.

"Exactly," Jirobou nodded, a mean grin spreading across his face, "They'll know we're a force to be reckoned with, and leave the Sound Four alone."

_These people are lunatics..._

"You're so wrong...that's ridiculous!" I stifled a laugh, shaking my head pityingly before glaring at the huge college boy in front of me, "You think hurting a kid will make you look good? The Protectors won't get scared off; they aren't cowards, like your friend, Ukon, there. They're brave, and devoted to this city. They wouldn't avoid you."

"You think you're so smart-" Jirobou started, trying to sound tough. But I had had the best voice training in Team Masque; I could tell there was fear under that low voice of his. I guessed his team hadn't really thought their 'ingenious' plan through.

"Oh, but I am," I nodded, leaning towards my opponent slightly, making him lean back a little, "And I know what the Protectors would do if you so much as laid a hand on Inari. Leave you alone?" I chuckled, "That's funny. You wanna know what they would do, to you and your team, big guy?" my fake smile disappeared, "...They would _destroy_ you."

Jirobou had been leaning back further and further as I'd been speaking. I had been trying to make him overbalance and fall backwards; that would probably have freaked him out enough to make him run away, without needing to fight. But he'd picked up on my trick.

He also remembered that I was a girl that looked to be half his size and at least 100 pounds lighter than him. What harm could little old _me_ do?

"I've had enough!" Jirobou roared, standing up straight and forcing me to do the same, "Get out of my way!"

He raised a fist. On the inside, I pitied him. On the outside, I put my arms out slightly to protect Inari, who was still behind me, and spread my feet apart slightly so that I stood securely.

"Graaaah!" With a yell, Jirobou swung his arm around and clobbered me as hard as he could into my stomach.

_This was going to be bad..._

"**Raaaaaaah!!**" he howled when his punch connected, then hunched over in pain, cradling his hand.

_...for Jirobou._

"What the hell?!" he spat, scowling at me, "My hand!!"

"Feels just like a brick wall, doesn't it?" I smiled, still standing where I was.

**"Aaaaaah!"**

We all heard a shriek, and turning, we saw Tayuya thrown through the air, to land in an untidy heap a few houses down the street.

"Jirou, let's go!" Kidoumaru yelled, nursing a black eye as he hurried after Tayuya, who had picked herself up and was hurrying away.

Jiroubou gave one look at me, and his sore knuckles, before agreeing that yes, they should run. Without another word, he lumbered away to join his gang.

"...Whoa," Inari gasped, then grinned, "That was awesome!"

"Yip-yip!" his dog agreed.

Insect and I shared looks. Inari was a _lot_ like Kiba. How often did he and this kid hang out?

"No, that was dangerous," I corrected curtly, giving him a stern look, "Now go visit your Dad's grave, then get out of here. It's late, and you should..."

My voice trailed off, because at this point, I noticed that he was just staring at me, not really listening.

"...what is it?"

Inari just kept staring. Then I remembered something.

"Ok, Insect, _you_ tell your #1 fan what to do. He isn't going to listen to a Masque," I sighed, turning to walk away.

"Wait!"

Inari grabbed my sleeve before I could walk away. And of course, I stopped. I'm not a mean person...I act tough when I'm Matter because that's what I have to be. (Seriously, nobody would wanna get rescued by weird, clumsy Michiko). But I can never act tough enough to ignore a kid.

"The Protector, Recruit, said that Team Masque hated the Protectors," Inari mumbled, still holding onto me, "Said that you wanted nothing to do with them. But you fought with Insect, and said good stuff about them. ...How come?"

Well, I could've just said something, like:

"Oh, Shino and I are good friends. Doesn't count!" or:

"Maybe the others think that way, but I don't! I'm going rogue! I'm a rebel!" or:

"I'm sorry, you're not a newsperson. Who are you to ask?" or even:

"Oh, look at the time! Let's go home! LOL!"

I could have. I mean, all of those things were kind of true. But none of them were completely the truth. So, I turned around, and crouched a little so that I was facing Inari at his height.

"...What Recruit said is partly true. Team Masque and the Protectors have chosen to work separately from each other," I nodded, speaking slowly so that I could choose my words carefully, "But...let's just say I'm looking at the bigger picture, Inari. Both Masques and Protectors want this city safe. Our leaders just don't get along. So...we're not together."

"...That's kinda stupid," Inari said bluntly, "If you're doing the same thing, you might as well work together!"

"'Stupid'? I couldn't agree more," Insect nodded, putting a hand on my shoulder, "But it is not our place to decide. All we can do is work with what is put before us. Matter and I understand each other; we share this view."

"So, sometimes I'll fight with Insect."

"And other times, we will fight with our own teams."

"At the end of the day, our jobs will be done," I finished, with a small shrug, "And that's what really matters. Get it?"

"...I think so," Inari nodded slowly, then narrowed his eyes at me, "Wait, was that a pun? When you said, 'that's what really matters'?"

"Um...no?" I coughed discretely, sending a silent signal to Shino, "That would be a pretty obscure pun."

"Go visit your father, Inari. It is time for us to all go home."

Shino's hand tightened on my shoulder, and I lightened myself instantly; by now, we had figured out a lot of unspoken cues between us. I mean, after all, we almost always worked together, on patrol. As I waved to Inari, Shino jumped away and across rooftops, taking me with him.

"Job well done, Insect."

"Likewise, Ms. Matter."

~*~

_(Gaara Suna)_

_(Mid-November, late afternoon)_

_(Downtown Konoha City)_

[There! I took out another guy! How many is that, now?]

[How many? That should be the seventh one. This means that there are eight attackers left.]

I adjusted my radio a little so that my earpiece was not so loud. Listening to my team via walkie-talkie made my head hurt, but was necessary. I, myself, could not be in the center of the action, after all.

It was late afternoon, and my team was on a mission, rather than studying for midterms like any other teenager around this time of year. Insect had gotten word around a week ago about plans for a kidnapping. Apparently, an influential lawyer had upset the wrong person, and a mob was after his young daughter, though whether to get ransom money for or coerce the lawyer with, I was unsure.

Fifteen of the mob had struck that day, as the lawyer's daughter was walking home from school. My team was out, fighting with the mob, while I listened to their progress and gave orders. As well, it was also my job to guard the mob's target. We had been keeping tabs on her for the past week, and when the mob made their move, we contacted her and hid her in an alleyway; we even had bags of sand hidden nearby, just in case somebody found us.

I stood on the roof of one of the buildings creating that alley, able to see but not be seen, while the girl waited below. Both of us eyed each other warily as we waited; she wasn't comfortable around me, and I didn't like yappy girls like her. Yes, I knew she was yappy. Very yappy. I'd seen how loud and arrogant she could be at school.

"...You're the Protector called 'Sand', right?" the girl asked, after we'd stood there for maybe 20 minutes.

I nodded once, not really in the mood to talk.

"You're the leader, right?" she persisted, "Do you know what's going on?"

"Seven men left," I answered, before turning my back to her, showing that I really didn't want to talk.

[Recruit! Behind you!] my newest member shouted over the radio.

I heard a sharp buzzing sound, and then an explosion. In the distance, I saw smoke and dust rise above the sky-line.

[Whew. Thanks, Synergy!] I could just imagine the moronic grin on Recruit's face as he said that.

Synergy was a girl that Insect had found about two weeks before; she joined us last week. Normally, I would have had her train for much longer, but we had needed all the hands we could get, for this mission. And her ability, supercharging objects so that they exploded, was hard to train in private, anyway. Synergy learned by doing, so the field was now her training ground, with Insect keeping a close eye on her as her instructor.

"Did the blast need to be so large, Synergy?" I asked into the radio, "I could see its dust cloud from here." I did not need to remind her that I was three blocks away.

[Apologies, sir,] she answered promptly, [It won't happen again.]

Synergy had been a good move on Shino's part. She was mature, determined, could fight well even without her power, and was just as angry about Konoha's crime rate as the rest of us. The fact that she came from a military family was an added bonus; she was disciplined towards authority. She was starting to grow on me.

[Four men left,] Teleporter said in the radio.

[I see them,] Synergy said, and I heard a charging sound, [I've got a clear shot.]

[Hold on!] Insect said quickly, [Look! They're surrendering.]

[Yeah, they're running away!] Recruit laughed, [Should we follow, Sand?]

"No, that's enough," I answered, glancing at the pink-haired girl in the alleyway before saying, "Teleporter, you and Recruit escort the girl home," I heard Recruit cheering over the radio, "...Teleporter? Make sure Recruit keeps his mouth shut during your escort mission."

[Aw, come on!]

[Haha, no prob, Sand.]

I shared the smile that I guessed was probably on Kiba's face, "Insect, Synergy, I want you to rest a few hours; you both are on rounds tonight. Are we clear?"

[Yes, sir.]

[Crystal.]

"Good. Good work, tonight, Protectors."

I pulled the earpiece out of my ear with a sigh. The sun was going down, I noticed; it was getting cold, and I was tired.

_I'm protecting the city, brother,_ I said silently, looking up at the darkening sky, _Are you watching?

* * *

_

_Esperwen_- Ha. There we go. I would write something profound, here, but I'm soooo lazy. I kinda wish my writer's block on 'Sakura and Ino's Story' wasn't so bad, but at least I can focus on 'KC High'. Kindly review; I send out snacks! ...not real ones. Just pixelated ones.


	13. Start and End

_Esperwen_- Ugh, sorry, everyone! Exam coming up...I'm actually procrastinating some studying, right now. But next week, my break from school will start! I'll have to return for some summer courses, but I'm still optimistic about writing and posting! Anyway, here's the chapter; enjoy!

* * *

_-Chapter_ 13 _~ Start and End-_

_(Pooriin Chatora)_

_(Midterm week)_

_(KC High's Library)_

Ugh, you know what I've noticed? Grades are just numbers. They're just little marks printed out on paper. In reality, grades are harmless. They just sit there on your report card and look at you.

But grades make everybody freak out! It's stupid, how important those stupid numbers are!

Take a look at us during one of our lunch breaks: It was during midterm week, and all of Team Masque (except for Deniizu. She had another interview with a reporter, or something, so she wasn't hanging out with us that day) were studying in the school library.

"I don't understand History!" Michiko gasped, slamming her textbook shut, "The test is tomorrow! I'm dead!"

"How do you determine the coordinates of the vertex in this equation?" Hinata asked me, pointing to a spot in her notebook.

"Why did I take Physics?" I asked myself, trying to decipher the writing in my own notes, "_Why?_"

"Tsume-mama, I'm sorry; I've failed you!" Michiko said, facing a window and sounding like she was going to cry, "I don't think I'm going to finish Grade 10, after all!"

"It's a Ax^2+By+C=0 equation," Hinata added, still pointing.

"I mean, do I hate myself?" I wondered, still not realizing that Hinata was talking to me.

"I'm screwed!"

"Pooriin, look here..."

"_Why!?_"

"Could you three quiet down!?" Neji hissed, still keeping his voice low.

All three of us jumped when we heard him; he'd startled us. I think we forgot that he was even there.

"This is a library!" Neji continued, giving us one of his classic glares, "I'm trying to read 'The Illiad' for English! Simmer down!"

"Sorry..." Michiko and Hinata said at the same time, one playing with her hair, and the other playing with her fingers.

I didn't take Neji as seriously as they did. After seeing his reaction when I showed him the white hakama he'd be wearing for a costume, I couldn't take him 100% seriously. (He almost had a tantrum when we told him he had to wear the hakama on missions! It was kinda funny!)

"Deniizu is so lucky," I grumbled, working on an equation from my textbook that we more letters than numbers, "She doesn't have to study..."

"Deniizu also isn't ever going to get a high school diploma, at this rate," Neji pointed out.

True, that. One thing that got Temari angry all the time in Oto City, was the fact that Deniizu wasn't taking her education seriously. Even Michiko couldn't get Deniizu to enroll into a high school. The whole team managed to get Deniizu to enroll in a couple online courses every semester, but that was about it. Deniizu was really set against doing anything particularly responsible, for some reason.

Michiko was in the middle of explaining a math equation to Hinata, when I heard Neji make an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. He kind of sounded like, "Hrrmph."

"Don't look to my left," Neji said sternly.

Naturally, all three of us disobeyed and turned our heads.

"I just told you not to...ugh!" Neji rubbed on of his temples irritably, "Why do people even say, 'don't look'? Everyone looks, anyway!"

"I'd better make room for them!" Michiko said, starting to pick up papers when she saw who was there.

"Oh...it's Inuzuka and his friends," I grumbled, turning back to my notes, "_Great._"

"Rini..." Hinata shook her head a little, "You don't even know him."

"Why do you hate him so much, anyway?" Neji asked, raising an eyebrow at me, "You aren't even in any of the same clubs, or teams, so I don't see why-"

"It's none of your business, Neji," I interrupted, shaking my head, "It's just between my family and his, ok?"

Neji and Hinata looked across the table at Michiko to see how she reacted to that. She had stopped putting stuff away to look at me curiously; I guessed that the Inuzukas still hadn't told her why we Chatoras didn't like them. Well, I wasn't going to explain to her if even the Inuzukas didn't want her involved. She would just have to wait, like everyone else.

By then, Inuzuka and his three friends had seen us, and had arrived at our table. Shino put his hand on Michiko's shoulder; she looked up and half-smiled at him.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Shino asked, pointing to a seat beside Michiko.

"Oh, sure! Sit!" Michiko said quickly, moving her chair a little so that he could get in.

I didn't realize she was such good friends with Shino until that moment. It took months for Michiko to get over her shyness and study with Shika and I. ...Then again, she and Shino walked home together every day...and maybe Michiko was finally growing up?

Suddenly, there was a blur of movement, and then Inuzuka somehow sat in the seat before Shino could. I narrowed my eyes at him; he was so rude..

"Thanks, Michi," Inuzuka grinned at her, before turning to glare at me, "Today's Wednesday."

_Oh, yeah,_ I remembered that Inuzuka still had that stupid rule where Michiko had to sit with him once a week.

Shino and Michiko shared looks before Shino sat at her other side, across from Neji, but I didn't notice. I didn't even see Gaara sit beside Shino, or that guy, Naruto, pull up a chair beside Neji.

I was busy sharing death stares with Inuzuka! He badmouthed my father every chance he got, was trying to steal one of my best friends from me by being her foster family, and now he was sitting at my table? And I had to look at him?! No fair!

"You are tutoring Hinata in Math, Michiko? Might I join?" I vaguely noticed Shino ask; I was too busy narrowing my eyes to really pay attention.

"Oh, Math is one of your weaker subjects, isn't it? Um...sure, if Hinata doesn't mind."

"Um, it's f-fine..."

Who did that Inuzuka think he was, narrowing his eyes at me?! I picked up my Physics textbook and opened it, so that it looked like a wall between us. Inuzuka did the same with one of his textbooks. With a "hmph," both of us looked away from each other, deciding to mutually ignore each other as hard as we could.

"Great, now the table's crowded," Neji grimaced, leaning as far as he could away from Naruto, "I didn't know punks like you studied."

"Meh, gotta read 'Macbeth' for English," Naruto yawned, waving a playbook at him, before frowning, "Wait, did you just call me a punk?!"

"I didn't say that," Neji lied, looking back at his own reading.

"You did call me a punk, didn't you?!" Naruto yelled, jumping up, knocking over his chair in the process.

"Quiet down, reject, this is a library," Neji rolled his eyes, getting up and picking up his books gracefully, "Come on, Hinata, I see Tenten across the room. We can study with her; let's move now before we get in trouble."

We all knew that the librarians wouldn't make a move to punish us. Neji just didn't want to sit with Naruto.

Michiko, Deniizu and I had figured out early on that Hinata had a crush on Naruto. And I mean, a _monster crush. _It was really cute how Hinata always turned bright red when Naruto was nearby, like right at that moment; with Neji standing up, it was like Hinata and Naruto were sort of sitting beside each other. I was actually kind of wondering how Naruto hadn't realized that Hinata liked him, yet.

"...Eh?! Hinata?" Naruto blinked when he saw her, "Whoa, you're sitting there?! I totally didn't see you there!"

I felt a sweat drop form on my forehead; I could see drops on Hinata and Michiko, too. How could I forget? Naruto was about as observant as a brick wall.

"But, I'm still helping her study," Michiko said to Neji.

"You go ahead; we'll keep an eye on Hinata for you," I added, smiling at him.

Neji raised an eyebrow at me, skeptical that I could take care of Hinata even half as well as he could. Michiko just sighed and continued explaining minimums and maximums of parabolas to Shino, probably hoping that Neji would start believing that Hinata could survive a few minutes without him.

"...Fine, have it your way," Neji finally said, turning away, "I'll be right over there."

"Have fun with 'The Illiad'!" I waved to the back of his head.

"If your marks drop because you're exposed to Uzumaki, don't say I didn't warn you," Neji said casually over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, sit down," Gaara said dully, giving his friend a stern look over the edge of a textbook he was studying. Whoa. That guy was so quiet, I'd almost forgotten he'd joined us.

...Or maybe it was harder to notice him because Kiba and Naruto were _everywhere_ and in _everyone's_ face.

"What?! But, he-" Naruto started to protest.

"Look around. You're embarrassing yourself," his green-eyed friend deadpanned.

"...Um..." Naruto hung his head when he saw that everyone in the library was staring at him, and then sat down, "Sorry..."

Accepting his apology, everyone went back to doing whatever they had been working on before. After a few minutes, Michiko continued helping just about everyone at the table with Math, and Hinata ended up helping Naruto understand Macbeth. I played a couple games of Snake on my cellphone to relax before trying to work, again, but after staring at a Physics diagram for five minutes, I had to sigh.

"I hate Physics..." I grumbled, starting to erase yet another wrong answer from my notebook, _And I'm pretty sure Physics hates me._

I heard a snicker across the table, and glared at Inuzuka. He smirked and shrugged at me, pretending like he didn't do anything wrong.

"I know that was you!" I snapped, not really yelling, but still loud enough to get the table's attention, "What's so funny?!"

"You're sweating over Physics?" Inuzuka started laughing, "Physics is easy!"

I stared at him like he was insane. Because, I mean, he had to be; _nobody_ thought Physics was easy. Except maybe for Shikamaru, but he didn't count; that guy is a genius.

I was going to just pout and start ignoring how Inuzuka was laughing at me, but then I noticed the book that he was trying to study.

"...Well, look at you! You're studying Biology! Do you see anyone here studying Bio?" It was my turn to smirk, and I was taking advantage of it, "Even Michiko gets Bio!"

"I can hear you!" Michiko shot a wounded look at me.

"I'm just kidding!" I said quickly, grinning at her, then throwing a '_You're_ still stupid, though' look back at Inuzuka.

"You're insane!" Inuzuka barked at me, "It's hard to figure out mitosis!"

"Not as hard as calculating properties of falling objects!" I shot back.

"Says you!"

"Says _you_!"

"Stubborn Chatora!"

"Smelly Inuzuka!!"

"_Guys!_"

Both my sworn enemy and I jumped when we heard our friends. Somehow, they had all managed to yell at us in unison.

"Either cut that out-" Michiko started, with Hinata sharing a stern frown with her.

"-Or you take that outside," Shino finished, he and Gaara giving off this scary, serious...really intimidating aura. I shuddered a little when I felt it.

"This is a library," Naruto added, crossing his arms and nodding.

I was a little stunned. I was scolded by _Naruto_, of all people, to smarten up. If Naruto tells you to be serious, it's a big deal.

...clearly, it was all Inuzuka's fault! Both of us turned back to our textbooks, not wanting to take our argument outside (November weather is _cold!)_, but we knew our fight wasn't over. We were just going to quiet down.

And I was going to win.

"Mitosis _is_ easy," I whispered, my textbook blocking my face so that the table couldn't hear me, but angled just right so that Inuzuka _could_.

"My dog can do falling object equations," Inuzuka hissed, also doing the textbook thing.

"As if!" I rolled my eyes, "I bet you've never even heard of IPMAT!"

He was silent for a moment. I smiled to myself; he had _no idea_ what IPMAT was! And that was the most basic of basic mitosis knowledge.

"It's an acronym for the order of the phases of mitosis, stupid head!" I whispered triumphantly.

"...Oh."

Seriously, he sounded so clueless! I tried not to do a little victory dance in my chair. One point for the Chatora family!

"Well...well, I bet you don't know what the equation for calculating the speed of a falling object is!"

He had me there.

"S-sure, I do!" I stammered, quickly flipping through my notebook, "Ah, it's...it's..." _Shoot, where did my notes from that lesson go?_

"It's 'v=a*t', idiot."

I could just hear the smirk in his voice. I looked over the top of my textbook, ready to give him the GLARE of his LIFE!

But, when I did, he wasn't there. His books were there, but his chair was empty.

_Where did he-_

"Got it!"

Before I knew what was happening, Inuzuka was suddenly standing beside me, flipping through a notebook. It looked strangely familiar.

I glanced down at the table and realized my Physics notebook was gone.

"That's _mine!_" I exclaimed, jumping up and making a grab at my notes, but Inuzuka moved out of the way before I could even touch it.

"What have we here?" he grinned, turning his back on me and _reading_ my _homework._

It took everything I had not to use super speed to get my notebook back! I turned around to give Michiko my look that said, '_you're_ the one who made up that rule to keep our identities secret! I blame _you _for this humiliation!' But she wasn't even paying any attention to Inuzuka and I; Gaara was helping her with History.

"Give me that!" I hissed at Inuzuka, trying to keep my voice down.

"Why should I? You don't even know what gravity's acceleration constant is," Inuzuka said, _still smirking_.

"Yes, I do! It's 18.9!"

"It's 9.81, moron."

"No, it's..." I flipped to the back of my textbook, where all the equations and important numbers were, "See, 'The acceleration constant of gravity is'..."

My voice trailed off when I saw the correct answer.

Inuzuka read it out loud for me.

"...'Is 9.81 metres per second, squared.' Just like I said."

I stared at the textbook some more.

_Inuzuka was right? _I thought, incredulous, _No. No, but I was winning! I refuse to back down!_

Then I remembered something else.

"Well, it's not like I have to memorize any of that!" I put my hands on my hips defiantly, "Ms. Mitarashi said she'd give us a sheet of equations and constants before the test, to use in case we forgot any!"

"Oh, yeah?" Inuzuka laughed a little, "You get 10 bonus marks if you don't use the cheat sheet."

"Ten?!" my jaw dropped open for a moment, "That's a lot of marks...but our teacher never told us that!"

"She'll tell you when you walk into the exam room, five minutes before the test," Inuzuka shrugged, "Anko's unfair, like that."

"Yeah, right!" I narrowed my eyes at him, "You're just saying that so that I try memorizing all the equations and mess up my exam!"

"No, it's true. My sister took Physics with Anko," Inuzuka smirked, "She got a 94 in that class. Face it. I know everything, and you're stupid."

"'I'm st-'...!" I gave him the angriest look I could muster, "You don't even know what the stages of mitosis are! How am _I _the stupid one, here!?"

"This is painful to listen to," I barely heard Shino mutter in the background.

"I told you! Mitosis is hard!" Inuzuka growled at me.

"Not if you know what 'IPMAT' stands for!" I exclaimed, "Once you know what each letter stands for, not only do you know the stages' names, but you even know their order! Inter-, pro-, meta-, ana-, and telophase! _Easy!_"

Inuzuka gave me a blank look for a moment, then he grabbed from me the pen I was holding.

"Hey!" I frowned at him, then grabbed his arm when he started writing something on a blank page in my notebook, "Hey, what're you doing?!"

"I'm writing down what you just said; what's it look like I'm doing?" he snapped, then mumbled to himself, "Meta...ana..."

"Write it in your own notebook!" I exclaimed, again, but he ignored me and just ripped the page out of my book, "You jerk!"

I turned to look at Michiko to see if she was paying attention, yet. She was.

...and she was shaking her head at me.

I raised my eyebrow at her, wondering what she meant by that, when I noticed something else: Michiko had one of those cheap, convenience store notebooks that barely have enough paper in them to last a semester. And it was old; it had already been written in, before, for someone else's History notes. Michiko was adding extra notes in the margins of what was already written, as well as using the last few pages at the end to put in fresh information.

I looked at Inuzuka's things. He, too, had an old notebook, with Biology notes written in someone else's writing. The same person who wrote Michiko's History notes.

_Are these...hand-me-down notebooks?_ I thought to myself, watching Inuzuka add the page he'd ripped from my book to the back of his own notes, _...They can't afford new books?_

"...What're you lookin' at?" he growled, when he caught me staring.

I didn't answer him, at first. I just sat down and looked at Michiko, again. First, Inuzuka was a Physics genius, and then he understood how to get extra marks from Ms. Mitarashi, one of the strictest teachers in KC High, and now, he was really, really poor but not complaining to anyone about it...I thought I had this loudmouth all figured out. I thought he was this unintelligent, whiny jerk; that's how he always seemed when I saw him with Michiko. But, as it turned out, I really didn't know anything about him.

...Maybe, what Michiko kept telling me was right. Maybe I _did_ need to give Inuzuka a chance.

"...Hey. You."

My notebook landed in front of me with a thud; I jumped a little when I heard it. I noticed for the first time how new and unnecessarily expensive it was. And it looked like it had maybe three times as many pages as Kiba's notebook did.

"There. You got your stupid book back," Inuzuka growled.

"...You're very rude," I said, giving him an annoyed look.

"Yeah, I know," Kiba shrugged, not really caring.

Then, I guess he sort of forgot that we hated each other. Or maybe he meant what he said as a joke, rather than something rude. (I'll admit it; I always thought Inuzuka meant everything he said to be rude.)

Because...ok, Inuzuka smirks at me. All the time. It's annoying, and arrogant, and it makes me so _mad_ when he does it (which is often).

But that time, he smiled at me. Like, he _actually_ smiled at me. ...well, maybe more like he grinned at me; I could see all his perfectly even teeth, and even his two fangs.

That was the first time he'd ever smiled at me. It was...kind of a cute smile, I guess...in a shiny, toothy kind of way...

If he hadn't smiled, I would have just gone back to ignoring him and continued studying on my own. Probably would've failed my Physics exam, too. But...he had smiled.

With a little sigh, I dug through my bag and pulled out a notebook (it was also three times thicker than his. Did I seriously need that much paper?).

"Here," I mumbled, holding my notes out to him, "These are my Biology notes. I'll lend them to you."

Cautiously, Inuzuka got a hold of my notebook. He tried to pull them away, but I didn't let go, yet.

"I'll make you a deal," I said, both of us holding the book, "I'm good at Bio, and you..." I hesitated for a second, then swallowed my pride, "You know your Physics."

"Pssh, please," Inuzuka scoffed, "I'm getting a 92 in Physics."

"I need help with Physics, and you obviously need help with Biology," I continued, ignoring him, "You help me figure out Physics, and I'll teach you everything I can about Biology. Which is a lot. ...I'm getting a 91."

"I win," Inuzuka started smirking.

"Do you want my help or not?!" I snapped, _Just because his mark is one point higher...ugh!_

Inuzuka glanced at the notes I was offering him, then tried catching Michiko or Shino's eyes for advice, but both of them were wrapped up in History and Math. Then he glared at me.

"So, you want a truce?" Inuzuka asked.

"Yes. I do want to pass Physics, after all," I shrugged, trying not to roll my eyes.

Inuzuka thought about it some more. He didn't want a truce; I could tell. But, he probably also wanted to finish Biology.

Finally, he nodded to me.

"Fine, Chatora. Truce," he mumbled.

"Great."

I let go of my notebook so he could take it and he pulled his chair around the table.

"Y'know, I could've just grabbed your notes and ran," Inuzuka said, taking a seat beside me.

"I know," I smiled at him, "Look at it carefully."

Inuzuka flipped to the first page of notes, then smiled again (without teeth, this time).

"Your Spanish notes. From two years ago," he laughed a little, "Well played, Chatora. Well played."

~*~

_(Kiba Inuzuka)_

_(Late afternoon, almost sunset)_

_(Outside the Maito Dojo)_

_Damn, midterms were murder!_ I thought to myself, glad that they were finally over. Good thing I'd had a tutor.

...eeeeh, let's not talk about the tutor. I'm still not 100% cool about the tutor.

I was sitting in the garden of Naruto's gym, waiting for him to finish his session so that we could leave. I'd asked him about it, before, and Naruto told me he was being sponsored to go to that dojo; his social worker mom and Naruto's part-time job couldn't possibly afford the membership costs. A talent scout (I think his name was...Madara Uchiha?) found Naruto training at Ebisu's Dojo a couple times, and that family's been paying for Naruto ever since. I think they want him to be a security guard or body guard for their company when he grows up...or maybe join their mafia.

Ok, the Uchiha Mafia is just a rumor.

...Alright, fine, Kankurou was the one who started spreading that rumor, a couple years back.

Anyway, once Naruto finished his session, we were going to train for a while, and then I was going to help Shino out on a mission. It had been a few weeks since I'd patrolled with Shino, since Gaara usually wanted me to work with Naruto. Shino'd been going solo on patrol, lately, unless he was training Tenten, which kind of worried me, but I always knew he would be fine. Not only was the guy second to nobody but Gaara in fighting strength, Shino only ever fought when he had to, and usually only when he was sure he'd win. My pal wasn't stupid.

I saw some people exiting the dojo, and guessed that the main session was over. Naruto would probably come out soon. Tenten was in the same class as Naruto, but she had private lessons afterwards, and I knew she would be staying about an hour later than Naruto was. Shino might pick her up, later.

The two of them were getting along really well, actually. Shino and Tenten, I mean. Hm...

I decided I might as well wait for Naruto inside; the sun was already low, and it was getting cold. So, I got up from my spot beside the dojo's huge, expensive-looking fountain and walked past the steady stream of people who were leaving, and into the dojo. I had just stepped into the main hallway when I heard voices.

"...irresponsible! I've already said you can't join them! Why are you asking again?!" yelled a female voice.

At first, I thought that I was hearing a mom yelling at her kid for doing something stupid, but her voice was too young. And it sounded kind of familiar...

"They need me! Have you seen the news, lately? Everything's been about that stupid poser team!" a male voice growled back.

"Their name is Team Masque!"

Now I was curious. Not only did I find both of their voices familiar, but one of them seemed to hate Team Masque almost as much as the rest of the Protectors did. The voices were coming from around the corner; I snuck down the hall so I could hear them better.

"I don't care! They're only helping people for attention; it's sickening."

"And I supposed the Protectors' reasons for fighting are pure? Ever since the Puppet Master disappeared, and Team Masque showed up, the Protectors have gotten more brutal with criminals. The small-time thieves get the same harsh treatment that big mobsters do. You think that's right?"

I was liking the girl less and the guy more. By then, I was standing right at the corner, out of sight, but as close as I could get so I could hear better. Sure, eavesdropping is wrong, but anything that has to do with the Protectors is fair game.

"Maybe Sand does that, but the others are still fair. And remember, the Protectors have two new members. Maybe Sand is recruiting more people because the Puppet Master was holding him back! This could be my only chance to join them; while he's still recruiting!"

"No!" the girls sounded like she was crying, "It's too dangerous! You're going to get hurt!"

"I'll be fine!" the boy was getting pissed, "My power is strong! You know what? I won't just be fine; I'll be great!"

There was a short pause. Kind of like something was starting to sink in.

"...'Be great'? Is that what this is about?"

"No, that's not-" the guy started.

"You wanna be a Protector so that you can rub it into your brother's face?!"

"No. He'd never know that it was me."

"But _you_ would. In your head, you think that being a Protector is so much greater than being a Psychologist, like your brother. It'd be your huge, glorious secret!" the girl said sarcastically.

"This is none of your business!" Yeah, he was pissed.

"It is! I'm your girlfriend! I can't let you put yourself in danger just to make yourself feel like your better than your brother!"

There was an even longer pause. It felt like something was wrong. I was dying to know who was talking, but I'm not a good snoop; I was pretty sure I would blow my cover if I tried peeking around the corner. So, I stayed where I was.

"...Baby? ...why don't you say something?"

He didn't answer her for a moment. Uh-oh.

"...Hey...hey, babe, _look _at me!"

"That responsibility is no longer yours."

"W...what?"

"I said it's no longer your job to worry about me!" the guy yelled, almost loud enough to make me jump, "Get out of my life! I'm sick of you! We're through!"

I heard someone's heavy footsteps coming my way, and the girl trying uselessly to stop him and make up with her.

"Wait, stop! ...Stop! You're making a big mistake!!"

I guessed that that was my cue to leave.

I T-ed out of the dojo, to its roof. Looking down, to where I knew the front doors were, I saw Naruto standing alone by the fountain near the front entrance of the garden, so I T-d over to stand beside him.

"WHOA!" Naruto yelled, as well as some other words that he'd probably get grounded for.

Yeah, he hated when I T-ed without warning him first. It was hilarious.

"Dammit, Kiba! What the hell?!"

"Shut up for a sec," I said, waving the topic aside, "How many guys or girls in your dojo are dating somebody?"

"...The hell?"

I ignored the weird look Naruto was giving me. I realized how weird my question was, but I brushed the thought off; more important things were at hand!

"Just answer the damn question."

"I don't know...almost _all_ of them?" Naruto shrugged.

"Well, how many of them are having problems?"

"C'mon, man, who doesn't have problems in this city?"

"NO! I mean..." I rubbed my temples and tried again, "How many of them are having relationship problems?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at me. I sighed.

"Almost all of them, huh?" I guessed.

"Well, yeah," Naruto nodded, then thought, "Well, except for Kyo and his girlfriend, Tohru. They're so lovey-dovey, it's weird. ...Why, dude, what's going on?"

"Ugh!" I groaned, hitting a fist into my palm frustratedly, "I heard two people talking, and one of them wants to join the Protectors, but I didn't get to see who it was!"

"What's the big deal?" Naruto asked, "We've already got five Protectors. Gaara probably doesn't wanna recruit anybody else."

"Yeah, but this guy said he had a strong power."

"Oh, yeah? To do what?" he raised an eyebrow at me.

I didn't have an answer for that. Good thing you don't have to be consistent with Naruto.

"...he also said he hated Team Masque!"

"Really?" Naruto nodded confidently, "Yeah, Gaara would totally recruit him."

"Exactly."

* * *

_Esperwen_- I just realized how many high school equations were in this chapter. D=

If you finished the chapter, and liked it in spite of all the references to homework and studying, please review!

If you finished the chapter, and didn't like it for reasons other than the references to homework and studying, please give me a critique!

If you liked the references to homework and studying, then I am sorry, but we cannot be friends!! (O_O)

...lol, seriously, though, please review! I send out fooooood!


	14. Extra: Character Bios

_**Caution! If you haven't already read the chapters up to now, there are spoilers!**_

_Character Bios, in order of appearance:_

_**

* * *

**_

_Character name:_ Michiko

_Code name:_ Matter

_Affiliation: _ Team Masque

_Grade:_ 10

_Superpower:_ Manipulation of her body's density

_Why I chose that power: _ I wanted to use her bloodline limit (if you read the 'Portal' series of fanfics that Ruroni and I wrote, you'll understand what I mean), but that felt like giving her too many superpowers. So, I compromised; what she has is a combination of her Stone and Air forms.

* * *

_Character name_: Kiba Inuzuka

_Code name: _"T" or Teleporter

_Affiliation:_ Konoha's Protectors

_Grade:_ 10

_Superpower: _ Teleportation

_Why I chose that power:_ I wanted to give him his Piercing Fang/Gatsuuga technique, like in the manga and anime, but then I thought, "Ew, his superpower is the ability to spin really fast? Stooooopid!" Then I thought, "Hey, that jutsu is kinda like moving from place to place really quickly, with nothing able to stand in your way," so, I chose Teleportation.

* * *

_Character name:_ Gaara Suna

_Code name:_ Sand

_Affiliation:_ Konoha's Protectors

_Grade:_ 10

_Superpower:_ The ability to control sand.

_Why I chose that power: _ Because he is SUNA NO GAARA! GAARA OF THE SAND! SAND SAND SAND SAND SAND!! Also, the ability to control sand has a lot of potential, but also a lot of limitations. I like it; it's well balanced.

* * *

_Character name_: Kankurou Suna

_Code name:_ The Puppet Master

_Affiliation:_ Konoha's Protectors

_Grade: _11

_Superpower: _Energy strings (one per finger) that enables him to pick up and move objects. "He calls it 'Puppetry'."

_Why I chose that power: _I considered telekinesis and mind control, but those superpowers were _way_ too powerful. I've had this idea that Kankurou had to die, so that Gaara would have something to be passionate about, and I needed a superpower that had obvious flaws. So, Puppetry.

* * *

_Character name: _Shino Aburame

_Code name: _Insect

_Affiliation: _Konoha's Protectors

_Grade: _10

_Superpower: _Insect Attributes. Super strength and enhanced hearing (can translate tactile vibrations into sound), but his eyes are sensitive to light. Also, his powers are still developing.

_Why I chose that power: _Controlling insects was an option, but I thought that would be too easy, and not very superpower-y. And his powers are still developing, so I'll update this when I post more chapters. =P

* * *

_Character name: _Deniizu

_Code name: _Windy, or, Deniizu the Wind Witch

_Affiliation: _Team Masque

_Grade: _If she were enrolled in all her classes, and had kept up with the curriculum, 10. Right now, she's finishing Grade 8 online (and taking her sweet time about it...)

_Superpower: _Ability to control wind currents.

_Why I chose that power: _I considered psychic powers, like in Ruroni and I's 'Portal' series, but again, they're too powerful, and every comic book seems to have someone like Professor X or Jean Grey. Wind has it strong and weak points, so I chose this instead.

* * *

_Character name: _Pooriin Chatora

_Code name: _Speedy

_Affiliation: _Team Masque

_Grade: _10

_Superpower: _Super speed.

_Why I chose that power: _If you read 'Portal', you'll get it! Pooriin was super-trained in those fics, and rather than giving her super-strength, I gave her super-speed. And technically, she gets super strength as a result of her speed (seriously, a truck slowly backing into you would probably hurt less than someone whipping a tennis ball at you. Also, you could walk away from the truck, but tennis balls are harder to dodge. But that's beside the point). Actually, a lot of these characters get super strength as a result of their original super powers...

* * *

_Character name: _Shikamaru Nara

_Code name: _Shadower, or, Crybaby

_Affiliation: _Team Masque

_Grade: _He would be in 10, but he skipped a grade, because he's so smart.

_Superpower: _Controls shadows.

_Why I chose that power: _BECAUSE HE IS THE SHADOW KING! Controlling shadows actually requires a lot of skill, and this power has huge, glaring flaws if you're not a genius. For instance, "OMG, it's a sunny day?! Nuuuuu!"

* * *

_Character name: _Temari

_Code name: _Float

_Affiliation: _Team Masque

_Grade: _12

_Superpower: _Manipulates gravity's pull on touched objects

_Why I chose that power: _I kept thinking, "Ok, it has to have something to do with her fan..." but I'd already given Deniizu wind manipulation, and I didn't want two characters on the same team with the same power. So, I thought, "What if she can fly? She can sort of fly, if she rides on her fan..." And as cool as the ability to fly sounds, it's actually a really useless combat ability. If you can manipulate gravity, though...

* * *

_Character name: _Hinata Hyuuga

_Code name: _Vision

_Affiliation: _Team Masque

_Grade: _10

_Superpower: _Foresight, and long-sightedness. Can create small pulses of energy with her hands. Also, she drives the getaway car.

_Why I chose that power: _Ok, I gave her a lot of powers. Originally, it was just going to be long-sightedness, but then I thought, "Oo, I can see through walls! Stooopid..." So, I gave her foresight, but to keep her from being too powerful, she can only see 'pictures' of the future. And then, I thought, "Great, but now she's useless in battle. She'll have to stay behind, all the time, and even then, she can't protect herself." So I gave her energy pulses, like her Jyuuken/Gentle Fist style of fighting. She has a lot of powers, but right now, she's very weak, which I'm still not happy with, but I know these powers still work for her.

* * *

_Character name: _Naruto Uzumaki

_Code name: _Recruit

_Affiliation: _Konoha's Protectors

_Grade: _10

_Superpower: _Self-cloning. Right now, he can make 8 more Narutos.

_Why I chose that power: _Pssh. Kage bunshin no jutsu/the Shadow clone technique. Duh! It's a good, strong power, but it's also comparatively simple if you don't know how to use it. Technically, this is just making more Narutos. If Naruto can't keep track of them all, and they don't work together with each other, all those clones end up more as an obstacle, rather than an advantage. But I'm sure you knew that, already.  
_

* * *

_

_Character name: _Neji Hyuuga

_Code name: _Impact

_Affiliation: _Team Masque

_Grade: _11

_Superpower: _Shockwaves. Can be formed by clapping his hands, or by hitting you directly.

_Why I chose that power: _Because he did that Air Palm thing in Shipuudden, which sent that other guy flying, and I was like, "Dude, those could be shockwaves!" It's like Jyuuken, again. His powers are similar to Hinata's but with significantly stronger destructive power. Kind of like in the anime and manga.  
_

* * *

_

_Character name: _Tenten Kunoichi

_Code name: _Synergy

_Affiliation: _Konoha's Protectors

_Grade: _11

_Superpower: _She can supercharge objects with energy, which causes them to become explosive.

_Why I chose that power: _Basically, I gave her Gambit powers. Because I am an X-men fan! 8D Tenten reminds me of Gambit, probably because she's adept at throwing weapons, and Gambit throws cards. Also, she needs more screentime, as does Gambit. She also seems to be the most blatantly Chinese-based character that Kishimoto-sensei has created, and Remy Lebeau is _so _ethnic. Oh, and she was using that quarterstaff in that one opening sequence, and Gambit occasionally uses that staff/scepter thing when he fights. Also, Gambit never makes mention of his past, and Tenten has never had a flashback origin story! She doesn't even have a last name! I had to make one up, so that she wouldn't end up being another orphan/runaway! What's up with that?  
_

* * *

_

_Character name: ???_

_Code name: ???_

_Affiliation: ???_

_Grade: ???_

_Superpower: ???_

_Why I chose that power: ???

* * *

_

_Character name: ???_

_Code name: ???_

_Affiliation: ???_

_Grade: ???_

_Superpower: ???_

_Why I chose that power: ???

* * *

_I'll update as more chapters get posted! I'll never post blatant, blatant spoilers.


End file.
